Harry Potter & Yet Another Tale of Misfortune
by Murbear27
Summary: Harry Potter is just a normal boy living with his parents in the midst of a war between light and dark. But of course, Harry Potter can never be a normal boy. With the continuing realization of just how powerful he is and influenced by his unusual and troubled childhood, Harry has to discover exactly what he wants out of life and whose side he wants to be on in the war.
1. Chapter 1

**Harry Potter and Yet another Tale of Misfortune  
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**I've decided that it's better not to tell you a ton about the story upfront, but it will contain the following things: Powerful!Harry, a darkish!Harry (not essentially dark, but not really grey...), and a Harry and Voldemort mentor relationship. Lily and James are alive (This is a very What if?-y kind of fic)  
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**Warnings: This is M by the FanFiction standards. There will be no sexually explicit content. Sorry? There will be lots innuendos, some harsher language, some violence, most of this in later chapters.  
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**There aren't really any pairings, and if there are, they will probably be canon. Also, there may be references to homosexuality and homosexual relationships, so if that bothers you, do yourself a favor and don't read this. But this really isn't a romance.**

**Also, there really is no bashing of anyone in this story. Really, I know that at times it may seem like there is, but there really isn't. Every character has flaws and as the story is mostly seen through a rather cynical Harry's point of view, you see a lot more flaws then positive attributes, but everyone has good and bad days.  
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**The first two years still revolve around the stone and the chamber, and there will be a Tri-Wizard tournament in year four, but otherwise this story is very much AU.  
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**I also do appreciate reviews, so if you're the kind of person who likes to review, don't be shy.**

**Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters and concepts do not belong to me and for the most part belong to JK Rowling and company…  
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* * *

Chapter 1

"We'll see you over the holidays, dear. We'll miss you!" Lily Potter called to her son as she watched him hurry towards the train that would deliver him to Hogwarts for the first time.

"Don't forget to write us! I expect the results of all of the Quidditch matches and some reports of well earned detentions." James called after his son with a wink. Harry Potter looked back at his parents and gave a quick smile before stepping on to the train. Harry honestly couldn't care less about Quidditch and could not conceive himself ever pulling a marauder level prank as his father was envisioning. He hoped to avoid detentions. He hoped to avoid any sort of attention, good or bad, at all.

Harry walked down the train car looking for an empty compartment. It wasn't too difficult to find one, as he was actually one of the first students on the train. He had insisted that he arrive as early as possible in order to make sure that he didn't miss the train or couldn't find a seat. He hated to be late.

Harry had the worst of luck, and he knew that if they didn't leave an hour early there would be some sort of accident that would cause him to miss the train. But if he left and hour early there would be no problem and he'd have to awkwardly stand around with his parents for an hour while he waited for the train to show up. He had decided the second option would, although being miserable, would be less disruptive in the end.

Harry sat down against the window and stuck him head into a book. He wondered if anyone would try to join him. He hoped that no one would, but realized that it was impractical to expect to be able to hog an entire four seat compartment.

And as if answering his thoughts, sure enough a girl with bushy brown hair opened the compartment door and took a seat across from him in the compartment.

"Can I sit here?" She asked.

"You already are and the world hasn't yet ended." Harry sighed as he looked up from his book.

"Oh, what are you reading? Is it a book for school? I've already read all of my textbooks at least once; I've almost made it through all of them a second time." She said, clearly excited about finding a fellow bookworm. Harry thought about how he would inform her that he had no intentions of becoming her friend and spending afternoons in the library with her having clever debates over which fourth century wizard was most powerful.

"No, it's not for school." Harry said as he held to book back up to read it, hoping she would read the cover and drop the issue.

Harry was, however, notoriously unlucky, and should not have expected anything more than the chipper commentary on his reading selection that ensued.

"_Warding the Wizard World,_" The girl read. "Oh, I've read about wards in _Hogwarts: A Hist_ory. Wards are really quite interesting. They're one of the older magic's, hard to master but almost every adult wizard can cast at least basic wards." The girl babbled. Harry nodded hoping the girl would decide to finish reading all of her school books for a second time instead of repeating what was virtually the first paragraph of the book he was reading. If was going to talk to anyone, he would at least request that they say something he didn't already know.

And then, with a rare stroke of luck, the girl thankfully did stop talking. But Harry realized that of course he was not as lucky as he had momentarily thought, because the only reason the girl had stopped talking was because the compartment door had been opened yet again.

"Have you seen a toad?" A boy asked standing at the compartment door.  
"No, I haven't seen a toad in here? Have you lost one?" The girl asked.

Harry rolled his eyes._ No, the boy just went around asking people if they had seen toads because he thought it was fun._

"Here he is, Neville." Harry said as he let the toad hop out of his hand and onto Neville's chest.

"Oh, Harry, I didn't see you there. Thanks for finding him." Neville carefully said before turning to leave.

"Wait," The girl said, grabbing Neville's arm. "Why don't you sit with us?" The girl commanded more than she asked. Neville glanced at Harry, who had returned to his book, skeptically, but nodded and sat down.

"My name's Hermione Granger." The girl stated not to either boy in particular.

"Neville Longbottom." Neville said with a shy smile.

Hermione turned to look at Harry expectantly. Harry felt her glare and sighed.

"Harry Potter." He offered without looking up.

"So how did you end up with Neville's toad, Harry? I didn't see it anywhere in the compartment."

Harry sighed and put down his book, realizing that any more effort to read it would be fruitless.

"I don't know. He must have hopped into the compartment behind Neville." Harry shrugged.

"But, I really think I would have noticed." Hermione stated, clearly not satisfied with the answer.

"Don't worry about it, Hermione." Neville said glancing at Harry. "All that matters is that I go him back." He reassured her, too afraid to tell the girl that if she wanted to know the answers to anything, Harry was probably not the person to ask. Harry always seemed to know everything, but didn't seem to like to share his knowledge.

"So, how do you know each other then?" Hermione asked as she looked from Harry to Neville.

"Family friends." Harry said quickly.

"Yeah." Neville agreed, not willing to elaborate any more than Harry was.

"Oh, I see. I wish I already knew some people at Hogwarts." Hermione said wistfully.

"Muggleborn?" Harry asked, looking for confirmation to his assumption so he could get back to his book.

"Yeah, my parents are dentists. They were terribly surprised to learn that I'm a witch. I used to just think I'd like to be a doctor or an English teacher when I grew up. I wanted to be princess once when I was five after reading a fairytale book, but I never dreamed of being a wizard."

Harry and Neville nodded and much to Harry's delight the compartment fell into silence. He picked up his book again and read all the way to Hogwarts, ignoring Hermione and Neville's eventually awkwardly picked up conversation about jobs in the wizard world.

* * *

Harry stood in the in before the entrance to the great hall. Hermione stood at his side babbling about the school as Neville scoured the floor for his toad, that he had once again lost. Harry had no interest in helping him find it this time. Neville must have found his toad, because he leaped forwards, nearly onto Professor McGonagall, who had just arrived to introduce the sorting process. McGonagall raised her eyebrows at Neville and he grabbed his toad and scurried backwards before she introduced herself to the first years and led them into the hall to be sorted.

Harry didn't care too much about what house he was sorted into. Gryffindor would be easiest because it was what was expected or him, as both his parents were Gryffindors. But being a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff would also be just fine. He honestly wouldn't mind Slytherin, but it might cause a bit of a stir with his parents. But he doubted that any house would truly have a profound effect on his Hogwarts career, so where ever seemed fine.

Harry patiently watched the sorting, noting that Hermione and Neville were both sorted into Gryffindor. _Maybe Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw would be better after all. _

"Potter, Harry." Was finally called and Harry took a seat on the stool and waited for the hat to make a decision.

"Hm," The hat hummed at him. "You don't like attention I see." The hat stated inside Harry's mind.

"No, I don't. " Harry thought back.

"Well, you can be invisible in any house if you so choose to be. But with your potential I can't see you not gaining notoriety."

Harry just sighed.

"Alright then, don't throw a fit." The hat huffed as well as a hat could. "Well, you don't seem to have an excess of any of the qualities for any of the houses, so I guess I'll just have to put you where you'll be able to most successfully grow, based on your ability and your desire for isolation, it better be—"

"Slytherin!" The hat yelled aloud.

Harry took in his sorting for a moment before jumping down from the stool and going to sit at the Slytherin table.

Yes, Slytherin would be best, he decided. His parents would be a bit concerned, but they would soon get over it. He would probably be shunned by most of the Slytherins for being too light, which would mean he wouldn't have to worry about rejecting any friendships. Plus, Snape wouldn't be able to give him detentions that he didn't deserve simply for being his father's son as he was in the man's own house. He had been worried that he would be subject to particularly exceptional levels of passive cruelty at the hand of Severus Snape once he got to Hogwarts, even since the first inexplicably vicious run in with the man in Diagon Alley many years ago.

Harry hadn't the faintest clue how the man had managed to get a post as a teacher at Hogwarts, none the less a head of house position, as a Death Eater. But somehow over the years Voldemort must have decided to allow for the use of glamour charms on the dark marks, because men like Snape and Lucius Malfoy managed to remain prominent and powerful in Wizard society.

It had taken a while to get the story out of his parents as to why Snape hated Harry so much, but eventually he learned that apparently he was subjected to the wrath of a Death Eater because his father and godfathers used to bully Snape. This made Harry a little angry, that neither man could ever manage to act respectable, with his father pulling childish pranks on Snape through his entire time at Hogwarts and with Snape continuing the game despite approaching middle age.

But now Snape would probably only grudgingly ignore him, instead of taking out years of name calling and pranks out on the son of his tormentors. Yes, Slytherin house would do just fine, Harry resolved as he loaded some food onto his plate. However, before he could even take a single bite, his isolation was interrupted by a blond haired boy.

"Harry Potter in Slytherin, I sooner thought I'd see Longbottom cast a basilisk patronus than see a Potter in Slytherin." Draco Malfoy spat.

"Well, I guess you aren't as omnipotent as you thought." Harry said dryly before placing a potato in his mouth and chewing slowly, eying the Malfoy. Harry had seen Malfoy on multiple occasions throughout his childhood and knew a fair amount about him, but he had never really actually talked to the boy before.

"Really though, I must know what was going through that hat's clearly confused enchanted mind when it decided to put you in Slytherin."

"Something about my potential." Harry said, deciding it would be best to defend his honor. He didn't need to make friends amongst the Slytherins, but he certainly didn't need to make enemies, at least not the kind that would seek him out to torment him often.

"Potential to do what? You're practically a squib!" Malfoy scoffed.

Harry was actually far from a squib, but didn't mind the rumors that his magic had developed late and barely. Just because he hadn't decided to show his parents that he could do magic until about a year ago, did not mean that that was his first bit of accidental magic.

Harry had never actually had any accidental magic incidents, as far as he could remember. He had always had control over his magic. Since he could read he had taken a basic spell book up to his room and had begun practicing. He didn't even realize that wandless magic, at least with intention, was not something children were supposed to be able to do. He had not seen a point at informing his parents of his magical ability until they reached their breaking point of worry that he was in fact a squib about a year ago. His parents knowing any sooner hadn't mattered to him though, as it would not have gotten him a wand and the right to use it any sooner. And since Harry had gotten a wand a few weeks ago, a twelve inch mahogany wand with a dragon heart string, he had not felt any more empowered.

But Harry decided that it would probably do him good to give Malfoy a taste of his power to get the other boy to leave him alone. Putting down his fork, a salt shaker flew across the table and into his hand. He began to salt his potatoes while Draco stared in awe at the same bit of magic that Harry had used to find Neville's toad earlier.

Malfoy opened his mouth to say something, but quickly realized that he couldn't summon things, none the less do so non verbally without a wand, and realized that it would be best to ignore Potter's skill rather than admit it. Harry gave a small grin in his victory as Draco turned away to talk to Blaise Zabini, and he stuck another potato in his mouth satisfied that his time at Hogwarts would be completely distraction free.

* * *

The next morning Harry discovered that it turned out that the first class of his first full day at Hogwarts would be potions. Harry cursed his luck. After some more thought on the situation last night, Harry had determined that just because he was one of Snape's 'snakes' did not mean that the man wouldn't still make life a little bit harder for Harry than it needed to be. And, although Harry had mastered most of the curriculum up through the third year in most subjects, Harry simply did not have much practice in potions. He had seen him mother make some more basic medicinal or household potions over the years, having a few opportunities to practicing dicing and mincing. He had also read several books on the art of potions. However, he had never before had he been given the opportunity to brew a potion on his own. Granted, neither had Hermione or any other Muggleborn in his potions class, and probably many students with magical families also, but with his luck, he would be naturally terrible at potions. And although Snape couldn't scream at him and show disloyalty to his house, he could quietly fail Harry.

Harry was disrupted from his musings as Snape charged into the classroom, robes billowing menacingly behind him. The man snarled some rehearsed threat disguised as an introduction, but Harry didn't really care to indulge in the man's games by actually listening. He opened the textbook to the page he was eventually instructed to turn to and began the reading.

It turned out that he did have a little bit of luck that day, as they spent the rest of the class reading in silence while Snape glared at them from his seat at his desk in the front of the room, instead of having to actually brew a potion or even as much as interact with anyone.

The second class that day was Defense against the Dark Arts. Harry was glad for this, as he was expecting it to be his favorite class. It would be nice to be able to have a reward after suffering through potions every day.

"I am professor Quirrell, your Defense against the Dark Arts teacher." The man said in a voice that was rather quiet for a professor. "Today we will begin work on the Knockback Jinx. We will start with some theory behind it in the lessons this week, but next week we will move on to practicing it." From that point Quirrell began his lecture. Harry jotted down a few dates and names, but didn't bother taking thorough notes. He had mastered that spell when he was seven, wandlessly none the less.

Harry was disappointed in the chosen professor and the curriculum of the class. If this class couldn't even keep him at least slightly interested, then there was no hope at any other class holding his attention.

In retrospect, he wasn't entirely sure what he had been expecting in a first year Defense class that would keep him entertained curriculum wise. But he had been at least hoping for a professor that was a little more passionate about the position, not some Muggle studies teacher how had been coerced by Dumbledore into taking the cursed position so he could easily get someone to take the much more popular position last year after there had been some sort of mysterious incident that no one seemed to be able to say anything about with the last professor.

But he really almost rather of had Snape in the position. Maybe he would at least be a brave enough dark wizard to sneak some darker magic into the curriculum for his snakes. The general consensus seemed to be that Quirrell also had ties to Voldemort, but upon meeting the man he doubted the man was inner circle like Snape was rumored to be. Quirrell was much too cowardly, and on top of, as Harry could tell, that the man was not very powerful.

But instead he was stuck skimming a page of theory of a knockback jinx.

* * *

The week went on and Harry quickly discovered that this was going to be a very boring year for him. He spent most of his time in the library, reading both books that he was allowed to and ones that he had taken from the restricted section, desperately trying to keep learning things. He found a classroom on the third floor that went completely unused and would practice nightly; using the invisibility cloak his father had sent with him to stay out later than he should have. The rest of the Slytherin's left Harry alone, thankfully it turned out Snape had very few reasons to fail him, thankfully, and Harry had remained virtually anonymous.

Nearly two weeks into the school year his parents finally sent him a letter responding to the news that he was in Slytherin. The letter said that they were proud of him and stated that they had always known that Harry would go on to do great things no matter which house he was put in. Harry knew that that meant that expected so little of him that they did not expect him to be powerful enough to be recruited by the Voldemort. He knew his parents were just trying to say the right thing, and their disappointment in him did bother him a little bit. But he was in Slytherin, and Slytherins don't care what non Slytherins think about them, so he decided that he should embrace his house in that sense.

But he had at least hoped that his parents would of remembered that powerful people were sorted into Slytherin. But his was sure that if they had made that connection, they had not been reassured that their son was not practically a squib for more than a moment, because they could only focus on the fact that powerful dark wizards came from Slytherin. Powerful light wizards came from Gryffindor. And apparently they didn't have enough faith in him to know that even if his magic did turn out to be dark, which he wasn't sure about to begin with, it was still how you used the power, not whether you had an easier time casting unforgivables or patronuses.

And didn't expect his parents to understand, and so he didn't actually mind everyone thinking that he was weak. It was easier that way.

He had pretended to struggle with the Knockback jinx in defense class until half the class had already gotten it. Of course, Malfoy then decided that the salt shaker summoning had been a fluke because of this and decided to pick back up on teasing Harry. However, before Draco had managed to get out his second mocking comment on afternoon in defense, he found his wand lying on the other side of the room. Draco gasped at the non verbal disarming charm and scurried away to pick up his wand. He didn't talk to Harry again after that point.

Everyone left him alone, and Harry couldn't be more pleased. No one knew that he could probably already pass his OWL's in a few subjects and was already beginning a couple NEWT's level defense spells in his free time in the third floor classroom that he had actually managed to ward so he could use it in peace. Granted, the ward would confuse students and send them the back down the hall to the stairs to the second floor and notify him of anyone that passed, but for anyone who knew how to recognize wards, it would only notify him as they took it down, which any adult wizard would have easily been able to do. But at least after a few tries and book from the restricted section he had managed to remove his magical signature from the ward, and he would have plenty of time to get under his invisibility cloak so no one would ever be able to trace Harry back to that classroom if he was discovered.

He had his own space and no one besides Malfoy, Neville, Granger, and unfortunately a few Weasley's even really knew who Harry Potter was. It was all Harry could have asked for, and he was beginning to believe his luck had changed.

But of course, it really would be silly to assume that Harry Potter would manage to remain an unknown for long.

* * *

**A/N: No prophecy means that Snape probably would have never become a spy and joined the order since Lily was never threatened, and he would have never had a reason to feel remorse. So he's still a Death Eater. To elaborate on my reasoning as to why he, and also Quirrell, are teaching at Hogwarts then: Voldemort would love to have spies inside Hogwarts close to Dumbledore and Dumbledore would love to have death eaters under his thumb at Hogwarts. And plus with the state of the Wizarding world right now as I implied, although men like Snape's and Lucius' ties to Voldemort are well known, they are ignored by the ministry.**

**And also if you haven't guessed yet the war never really ended, as Voldemort was not defeated by trying to kill Harry. Something did happen that caused the war to become a little more of a cold war and decrease in violence and terror and other such atrocities, but you'll find out about that later.**

**Up Next: Brooms and trolls in the dungeons. I promise you this will pick up. I've already written all of first year and it's actually way more action packed than I expected it to be.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Every first year in Hogwarts was buzzing with excitement, with the notable exception of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.

Today was to be their first flying lesson.

Harry had assumed the reason Hermione was strangely silent as the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years' walkout out onto the grounds was that she wisely feared that flying was not something that she could learn from a book and would quite possibly be bad at. However, at that moment, Hermione must have remembered that Hogwarts students are not graded on their flying because she began happily chattering away to Neville about the flying statistics of different broom types that she must have begun to memorize the second she learned that flying lessons would take place.

Harry however did not care whether or not he would be graded on flying; he didn't wish to do it either way. And he certainly didn't want to know exactly how fast a broom could go. Harry had always been terrified of flying, much to his father's disappointment. Apparently as a toddler, Harry loved flying on a toy broom. But toy brooms didn't go more than a foot off the ground and could hardly keep up with a tricycle if the two were raced. When Harry got on his first real broom at the age of five, he fell off within the first five minutes and plummeted nearly fifteen feet to the ground, breaking his collar bone in the landing. He had refused to fly since.

However, today he was going to have to get back on a broom for the first time in over five years. Harry had never understood the appeal of brooms. He had never understood the appeal of any wizard transportation actually. If you traveled by brooms you risked falling to your death. Harry had never managed to figure out how to travel by floo gracefully. It wasn't until last year when he could step out of a fireplace with little more than a stumble. Portkey 's and apparition made you feel as if you had been squished into nonexistence and just as you blissfully except the reality that you would never return to the mortal plain again, you are tugged back out into the horror filled, war stricken planet called Earth to live a life of suffering. Perhaps that was a tad dramatic, but that is what it always felt like to Harry.

He liked more muggle-esque modes of transportation. The Hogwarts Express had been lovely with the exception of the company. Once while waiting for his parents to finish an order meeting at the Burrow, Charlie had taken Harry, Ron, and the Twins in a ride in their father's flying car. Again, besides the company and Charlie's apparent inexperience driving, the ride had been quite lovely. He had taken many rides in the side car of his Godfather Sirius' flying motor cycle, and if it weren't for Sirius' daredevil driving, he would have enjoyed those rides. Slightly altered Muggle transportation had some potential to be pleasant at least, while Harry could not ever see purely wizard modes of transportation getting any more enjoyable.

But the idea of being on a wooden stick several stories up terrified him more than any other wizard mode of transportation.

Taking his place at the side of the terrifyingly over used and outdated school broom, he called it 'up' with the direction of Madam Hooch and the broom flew right into his hand. He watched as everyone around him struggle. Even Malfoy and Ron who he knew both had experience flying had to try twice before their brooms deigned to drift up into their hands. Just because he hated flying, it didn't mean he suddenly became less powerful.

After the last students had finally bent down and picked up their brooms while Madam Hooch momentarily looked away, they were instructed to mount their brooms. Harry began to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. However, he would soon discover it wasn't from the prospects of having to fly.

The second Neville Longbottom had mounted his broom, the broom jerked up into the air. It whizzed off towards the castle, Neville screaming and holding on for dear life as Hooch fruitlessly ordered him to get both feet on the ground at once. The Broom rammed into the side of the castle and Neville was flung off of his broom and began the twenty foot descent to the ground.

And without thinking, Harry found his wand drawn, pointed at the boy as he muttered the spell in his head that would stop the boys descent inches before he would slam into the ground. The boy looked startled as he stopped and hovered above the ground for a moment before finally falling the last foot of his descent with a soft thud.

Harry quickly lowered his wand and shoved it back into his robes, but the damage was done. Harry had just used a fifth year level spell nonverbally. _At least I used my wand. Of course, if I had been able to do that spell wandlessly, maybe no one would have noticed that I cast it. _Harry thought as he looked around to see all of the other first years and Madam Hooch gaping at him.

"Someone should take Neville to the hospital wing. He might have whiplash from that run in with the castle or some bruising from the fall. Or at the very least could use a calming draught." Harry said, hoping to get the focus off of him.

Thankfully, after a moment Madam Hooch snapped her mouth shut and ran over to Neville, who had pulled himself into a sitting position and was looking much less surprised than everyone else at the recent display of magic. Neville stood up before Hooch could get to him.

"I'm alright I think. Harry saved me." Neville said with a tone that didn't resemble to praise that such a phrase would have been expected, looking his savior in the eyes from across the grounds.

"Still, you should go see Madam Pomfrey. I'll take you so Madam Hooch can finish the lesson." Harry encouraged, eager to get away from the glares.

"Er, okay." Hooch said slowly, clearly still analyzing the situation.

Harry walked back to the castle and Neville followed.

"I was wondering how long you could have everyone convinced that you're, well, me." Neville said he walked along side Harry.

"It wasn't anything special. I fell off a broom when I was young and I never wanted anyone to get hurt like I was hurt as long as I was around so I taught myself that spell. I don't know many fifth year spells."

"Harry," Neville began knowingly.

"That's my story and I'm sticking to it." Harry said before Neville could say anything else.

"I don't understand why you don't own up to your power. It's not a bad thing. At the very least maybe you could convince them to let you take the NEWT's next year and then you could go work as an unspeakable and never have to interact with any of us petty weaklings again." Neville said with a surprising frustration that Harry did not know Neville possessed.

"Even if I were prepared enough to take the NEWT's next year, which I am not, you know they would never let me do that."

"You wouldn't know unless you tried." Neville said as he walked into the hospital wing.

"You're insane." Harry said harshly, turning around and leaving Neville to watch him as he walked away, but Neville reached out to grab Harry's arm, quickly dropping it as the other boy stopped and turned to glare at him.

"I've known you forever Harry, and I haven't the faintest idea why you are so determined to have everyone convinced that you're nothing. And I get that you don't want to stand out, and I understand that. But don't lie to me, okay. All of the lying and hiding and sneaking you do isn't okay. You've been doing magic since as long as I can remember, but yet you had your entire family convinced that you were a squib until last year. There are people who would love to have the ability to do magic that you do Harry, and it's cruel for you to pretend the way that you do." Neville said earnestly.

Harry just stared at Neville. Neville had never been a boy of very many words, and when he did talk it was usually only a brief comment on how nicely Mrs. Weasley's roses were blooming while at the burrow for an order meeting or a frantic whisper to Hermione in potions asking about the difference between crushing and smashing potions ingredients. Neville did not tell people off, particularly people like Harry, who he had thought Neville was intimidated by. Rage boiled up under Harry's skin.

"Don't assume you know anything about me." Harry snapped at Neville before turning on his heel and leaving the hospital wing.

* * *

Harry could have hoped that he would be left alone, that the incident would be regarded as a fluke among the student population and that everyone would go with their lives. But of course he wouldn't be that lucky. As Harry entered the great hall that evening for dinner, the chatter died down just a little bit, and he felt many, many sets of eyes taking quick glanced at him. He sat down at the Slytherin table, trying to ignore the conversation that he was sure was about him.

"Potter." Draco stated nodding at his presence.

"Malfoy." Harry imitated.

"I'm beginning to think that perhaps it was unwise of me not to seek alliance with you." Malfoy stated, looking nonchalantly at a string bean on his fork as he twirled the utensil between his fingers.

"Are you now?"Harry grimaced. Although alliances weren't essentially something he was against, as he was sure that some day he would need them, but when you're eleven and you're a Slytherin, alliance is the politically correct term for friendship. Harry wouldn't mind being able to ask for a favor from a family as powerful as the Malfoy's ten years down the road, but he realized he would have to do something to earn that favor. And becoming part of Draco Malfoy's gang was not something that he was willing to do.

"Yes. I think that it would be advantageous to both of us." Malfoy stated haughtily.

"How so?" Harry drawled.

"Well, you have proven yourself to be powerful, at least to me, but you haven't seemed to care to earn respect from anyone else. I of course would benefit from having an ally of your skill, while you would benefit from being allied with a Malfoy, as we are one the most prominent and oldest families in Wizarding Britain."

"Yes, I'm aware." Harry sighed. "But what would you expect of me and what exactly can I get from you in return?"

"Nothing right now, Potter. I doubt that there is anything that we could really do for each other right now. But a few years from now when there are things that we will be able to offer each other, having a little more history couldn't hurt. Despite your obvious efforts, if you continue down the path that you're on, someday lots of people are going to want things from you, and I want my name to carry a little more weight in your mind than everyone else's. And of course, the Malfoy name will always carry great weight, and I'm sure that there will be something political that you'll need help with someday, and I'll of course graciously offer you assistance." Malfoy said in his best politician voice.

Harry listened to what Malfoy offered him and was surprised to hear that he and Malfoy actually seemed to have the same idea as to what alliance between the two would mean.

"Okay, Malfoy, you've got yourself an ally." Harry said carefully. It's not as if they were taking unbreakable vows pledging their allegiance to each other. Both Harry and Malfoy would have the opportunity to change their minds if circumstances became too disadvantageous to themselves. But even if Lucius Malfoy was a death eater, it didn't mean that what Draco had said about the weight the Malfoy name carried was untrue. And Malfoy's were ridiculously loyal to those that they respected, to those of power, if Lucius' rumored relationship was Voldemort was anything to go by. As long as Harry continued to maintain his above average level of power, he doubted Draco would betray him unless it was absolutely the best move politically.

"Good." Was all Draco said before turning to Pansy Parkinson to chat about something Harry was sure was meaningless.

"Malfoy," Harry called back Draco's attention. "This is between you and I only. You're father has nothing to do with this, I presume?"

Draco seemed to falter for a moment, and Harry groaned internally at the thought of the correspondence that surely was going on between the father and son, which resolved in the senior Malfoy advising his son to keep an eye on Harry.

"Yes," Draco stammered before regaining his smooth politician voice. "Of course, Potter."

"Good. Because I can assure you that I'll be no good to you ever if I wind up under your Dark Lords thumb, at least not now anyway." Harry warned and thankfully Draco's eyes flashed with understanding.

"I promise that your," Draco paused, searching for the right word. "Talents will be kept in confidence unless you ask me to do otherwise."

"Thank you, Malfoy." Harry said honestly and Draco nodded before turning back to Parkinson, who had been watching the second part of the boy's interaction with interest.

* * *

As Harry was finishing up with his meal, a note appeared on his plate. Harry discovered that it was from Snape telling him to meet him in his office after dinner. Harry groaned. He had no desire to talk to Snape about anything, particularly the events of earlier that afternoon, which he assumed would be the case. Harry ate his dessert slowly, hoping to somehow drag out the dinner hour. Soon however students began to wander out and the dishes on the table vanished and Harry admitted defeat.

He slowly got up from the table and began the long trek to the dungeons, walking as slowly as he possibly could.

He finally arrived at Snape's office and knocked on the door. The door ominously opened and Harry wandered in to find Snape hunched over a stack of papers at his desk.

"Sit." The man commanded without looking up.

Harry obeyed, albeit a little grudgingly, and sat down in the seat opposite the desk.

"You wished to see me Professor." Harry asked politely but coldly. He wished to get this over with as soon as possible and knew the man would ignore him and continue grading papers for some time if he did not speak up.

"Obviously Potter. I do not waste my precious time writing out notes to be delivered to insufferable children that I have no business with because pulling petty pranks amuses me." The man stated dryly.

"Well, what do you want from me then?" Harry said through gritted teeth. He wanted to snarl at the git, but instead forced himself to maintain politeness.

"I was informed that you played hero this afternoon, using an OWL level spell to save Longbottom from a fall off of a broom."

"Yes." Harry said, sounding bored.

"Well one would wonder, Mr. Potter, how someone that was thought to have no particular talent was able to cast as spell that many fifth years have trouble with."

"I fell off of a broom with I was younger and I taught myself the spell because I didn't wish anyone else to have to suffer that kind of accident as long as I was around. I don't know any other spells like that." Harry said smoothly, having already practiced the lie once.

"Even still, the power it takes to make that spell work as effectively as it was reported that you did it is usually not developed at your age. Even if you do not know any other spells of that caliber, the fact that you even could perform that spell is interesting enough."

"Yes, well, if that's all I have a potions essay to finish up and I need to check it over because the professor is looking for any reason to fail me." Harry said smartly, beginning to rise from his chair.

"Before you go, Potter, I have a potion that I would like you to take." Snape said. Harry froze.

"What kind of potion? And why would I trust you not to poison me?" Harry asked, regaining composure and gracefully raising himself the rest of the way out of the chair.

"It's a potion that will let me see your magical core, along with an aura if you happened to be powerful enough to have one and be suppressing it. And I am your head of house. It is my job to make sure no harm comes to you. And I would not risk my position to kill you, at least in such an obvious way." The man said as he handed Harry a vial.

"And if I refuse?" Harry asked, swirling the liquid around inside the vial.

"Don't." Snape growled.

Harry sighed. Honestly, he doubted he was anymore than slightly gifted and highly motivated. Snape already knew this, and was expecting his magic to reflect such. By not complying he would probably do more harm than good, and not to even keep a secret. Harry knew that he would take the potion and Snape would narrow his eyes at him, say something along the line of, "Just as I thought, no more special that that mangy dog father of yours." Then he would order him from his office and file the reports to both Dumbledore and Voldemort saying that Harry Potter poses no threat to anyone, besides himself, as the professor would surely go mad having to trying to teach the impossible brat the fine art of potions that was still out of the know it all brats grasp . And so he swallowed the vials contents and waited.

However, Snape's eyes did the exact opposite of narrow and soon they were they size of saucers. Suddenly the room filled with a shimmery deep purple mist and Harry watched as his professor gasped and grasped the desk to keep from falling to the ground.

Harry looked down at himself and was quickly distracted by his hands, which were glowing gold. Hardly thinking, Harry lifted his hands and pushed his palms outwards towards Snape, the yellow magic flowing from his hands towards his professor and constricting around him. The man finally gave in and dropped to his knees.

"Hm," Harry hummed in curiosity. He'd have to look into his. This was certainly a surprise. This was certainly outside of the range and slightly gifted and motivated. He might have to reconsider his master plan a little bit given this new understanding of the depth of his power. He'd have to learn how to tap into his raw power at will and be able to use it like this whenever he pleased. He looked at the man, who was kneeling on the floor, his hands on his thighs trying to keep himself from violently trembling and smiled. Yes, he would have to learn how to use this to his advantage.

Harry walked over to the man and stood in front of him. Harry smirked. It now looked as if the man was bowing before him. Harry supposed he was, in a way. Severus Snape bowing down to Harry Potter. Oh, how his father would have laughed. Well, assuming he was not terrified by his sons display of at least partially dark magic. That's what the purple was, he supposed. But then the pale yellow magic was light magic he assumed. And he did have more control of that magic, so he supposed he was still technically a light wizard. But that wouldn't matter to his parents, because he apparently still had the power to be dark. And so they would not find out about this ability.

Harry sighed as he felt the magic pulling back as the potion wore off, realizing how exhausting it was to display his power like this. He was sure that with enough practice though he could not only release his magic at will, but he could build up more endurance.

The magic was quickly sucked back leaving Harry standing over Snape who was panting on the floor. Harry looked down at the death eater and realized that he could not let all his hard work convincing Draco to keep Harry's power a secret from Voldemort could not go to waste by Snape running off and telling Voldemort about this.

"I could try to get you to not tell anyone about this, but I doubt that it would work." Harry began. "And I lied when I told you I didn't know anymore fifth year spells. I know how to do a lot of spells that I shouldn't, ones that fifth years couldn't even dream of doing. Like this one." Harry said with a sickening sweetness as he pointed his want at the professor, wordlessly casting a spell that would make Snape unable to talk or write anything about the events of the last half hour or even think clearly enough about the memory for anyone who got inside his head to be able to understand it. It was a spell that he had been working on since he had gotten his wand, waiting years to learn it, but very much aware that trying to cast a spell like it wandlessly would be a waste of his time.

"I could have just obliviated you, give you a false memory for your reports, but I want you to remember this. I just don't want Dumbledore or Voldemort to know about me, not until I'm ready. But you certainly deserve to be knocked off your high horse." Harry said before he spun around on his heel and made of leave the office.

Just as he walked out through the door he spun around.

"And thanks for the information, by the way. This changes things." He said, looking at the professor who still was kneeling on the floor working to recover from the magical assault. Then he turned again and made his way from the dungeons up to his classroom to practice his new ability.

The professor watched the boy leave in awe, the only thought going through his head being that he may very well have just helped create a monster.

* * *

**A/N: That was at least a bit more exciting, wasn't it? Also note how I use nonverbal magic to avoid having to look up/make up spells. Finding the right 'real' spell takes too long and I always feel like any spell I could come up with would sound stupid. So let's just make Harry so powerful he rarely has to say a spell. I think it works just fine.**

**We'll get to Halloween next time I guess. That whole thing with Snape I was totally not planning, by the way. And then the thing was Draco wasn't even added until I revised the chapter after writing it.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ever since that day, Snape had steered clear of the boy, like he was terrified of him. Harry loved it. However, he had gained some notoriety among the other students. They all seemed to leave him alone, after all, he wasn't exactly approachable, but he heard the whispers about him, rumored and true. Granted, the story of Harry Potter, son of Lily and James Potter, two of Dumbledore's biggest supporters, forming an alliance with Draco Malfoy actually took place over his display of power. He wasn't quite sure how that information had gotten out, but soon felt like an idiot for making such a deal in the crowded great hall, where the walls always seemed to have ears.

However, the incident with Neville did start some rumors about Harry's intentions. Some people felt that Harry was apparently planning on becoming the next dark lord and was Malfoy was his first follower. Malfoy quickly squashed that rumor as best as he could. Some other students seemed to feel that Harry saving Neville from harm because of broom that was bewitched by Malfoy obviously showed that he was not dark, and that the alliance was all highly political and he had intentions of spying for the light and did not speak to Harry's opinions of Draco's beliefs. There was even a rumor that he was actually Voldemorts son. He had never heard anything more ridiculous.

Frankly, Harry was not yet entirely sure what he wanted in the grand scheme of things, but none of these rumors held much truth and he doubted that they ever would. Harry had no interest in being a dark lord. So far his only ambitions were to become as powerful as possible, do whatever he wanted, and no have to listen to anyone else or care what they thought of him. So maybe be wanted to be a king of sorts after all, but of a country that was populated solely by himself. But more than anything he did not want to get dragged into the war if he could avoid it. So any rumor that involved him on either side or creating his own side in the war was very, very untrue.

But he decided to ignore the students and hoped the rumor would maintain inside Hogwarts and blow over soon. He was sure he would get home for Christmas and discover that the Weasley's had written to their parents about Harry and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had passed the information on to his parents, who would spend the entire vacation reminding him of the horrors of dark magic and Voldemort.

He had hoped at least that Draco had managed to keep any other Slytherins writing home to their death eater parents about Harry's magic, but knew the information would get to one of them eventually. Hopefully though no one would decide the information was important enough to tell Voldemort.

But on a brighter note, since that day Harry had been reading up on magical cores and auras and had gotten to a point where he could release his magic at will and even direct small amount of it. Not as strongly as on that night and not for very long without becoming exhausted, but if he had made great strides in a month, and did not doubt that he would be able to release his power to its full extent by the new year, be able to direct it at full strength by the end of the school year, and within the next year have build up enough stamina to be able to unleash it fully without worrying about exhausting himself.

* * *

On Halloween while the rest of the school was in the great hall, Harry Potter filled his classroom on the third floor with magic. And no one even noticed his absence at the festivities. No one except for Severus Snape, but he had other things to worry about that night, and the boy hardly made his list of priorities as Quirrell ran into the great hall looking faint and announced that there was a troll in the dungeons.

Meanwhile, Harry remained oblivious to the chaos that was occurring elsewhere in the castle, and was actually feeling rather pleased that he had managed to hold his magic out for nearly five minutes, although not at full capacity, and was not even exhausted.

However, his internal celebration was ruined when his wards alerted him to someone in the hallway. Harry quickly grabbed his cloak, pulling it over himself before exiting the classroom. He looked out in the hallway to find Snape sliding into the room that was at the end of the forbidden side of the hallway. That was the only bit of information Harry had bothered to remember from Dumbledore's welcome speech, as most of the rest of it was nonsense, and had decided to respect it. But his curiosity got the best of him. Harry hurried down the hallway to peek inside the room before the door closed behind Snape.

And just for a moment Harry saw Professor Snape staring down a three headed dog.

And as the door shut, Harry turned and walked the other way. Being anywhere near a Cerberus was certainly the kind of thing that would get him in a great deal of trouble, and so Harry decided Snape could die at the teeth of the beast as he left, running down the stairs to the Great hall.

But of course, on his way to the Great Hall Harry heard a scream from the girls bathroom that he was approaching.

Harry ran into the nearby bathroom and found Hermione crouched under a sink while a troll swung its club, smashing through the sinks in front of her as the girl cried out.

Harry groaned at the scene in front of him. He was unfortunately going to have to do something about it. And if he'd like to not become Dumbledore's secret war weapon or something else ridiculous, he should probably do it using first year spells. Or at least make it look like she did it using first year spells. But then again, a troll was such a wonderful opportunity to test his new ability. But then of course, Hermione would bear witness to it.

Harry was disputed from his internal debate as Hermione screamed as the troll raised its club with intent to smash Hermione into the ground.

Harry sighed and drew his wand and very carefully stated the levitation charm.

"Windgardium Leviosa." He said, sounding bored. The wand and the words were not necessary, but he really didn't need Hermione going around telling everyone how he saved her by apparently not even doing anything. He magically grabbed the troll out of its hand as it tried to swing the club down on Hermione. But then, as he carefully directed the club towards the troll, ready to smack it in the head with its own club, Harry got an idea.

Carefully, while still holding the charm on the club, he released a little bit of his magic and directed it towards the troll so that stream of purple mist engulfed the giants head and a yellow ribbon of magic wrapped around its neck. He pulled on the magic with one hand while still holding onto the club in the other. The troll clutched at its neck with meaty hands, trying to get rid of whatever was choking him. Harry only pulled tighter on the magic, and after another minute the trolls eyes closed and it began to sway. Harry heard some yelling out in the corridor and quickly cut off the magic, sending the club flying at the trolls head just before the troll fell to the floor.

Harry grinned. He had never tried to sustain any sort of spell while also releasing his magic, and it had worked out brilliantly. Plus, the teachers would only think that the troll was knocked unconscious with his own club under a first year charm. No one would actually find out that the troll was strangled. Hopefully, if Hermione had even seen his magic and was not too busy cowering in the corner balling into her robes, he would easily be able to convince her that she must have been seeing things because of the trauma.

A group of shocked looking teachers stumbled into the bathroom to find Harry grinning darkly over the unconscious body of a troll while Hermione sat looking shocked and confused in the corner under a sink, covered in rubble.

"What on earth is going on here?" McGonagall cried.

Harry turned his attention from the troll to his transfiguration professor.

"Hermione was being attacked by a troll, so I used the charm that we're learning to knock it unconscious with its own club." Harry said bluntly, avoiding any more incriminating details like why he wasn't at dinner.

Snape silently scoffed at Harry's response and Harry eyed the man. _So he was still alive. How unfortunate._ A smirk formed on Harry's face as he saw a gash in Snape's leg.

"Are you alright sir?" Harry asked sweetly. Snape quickly covered his injury with his robes and pursed his lips and hardened his glare, but did not say anything,

"But that does not explain, Mr. Potter, why you were in this part of the school instead of at the feast with the rest of the school." McGonagall said. Harry thought for a moment, contemplating the best strategy to get out of this with as little personal loss as possible.

"I left the feast early. I had some things I needed to work on. On my way back to the dungeons I heard a scream, and I came in to find Hermione being attacked by a troll, so I did what I could. I-I," Harry stammered to give the impression that he was terribly upset by the situation. "I just didn't know what else to do. I just couldn't look the other way and let one of my classmates be bludgeoned to death." Harry said, looking at the professors with big sad eyes. Harry rarely felt like a child, but since he unfortunately was one, he would use it to his advantage when he could. Who would punish a messy haired, slightly small for his age, eleven year old with big green eyes? He was sure Snape was itching to crucio him, but any lighter wizard, perhaps with a heart, would be like putty in his hands.

McGonagall seemed to fall for Harry's puppy dog impression, and Harry had to fight back a grin as he watched her face soften. Snape, who realized that Harry had McGonagall wrapped around his finger, scowled, but stayed silent.

"It was very brave of you to defend your classmate, Mr. Potter. With bravery like this I'm surprised that you didn't end up in Gryffindor. And even though you aren't in my house, I'm sure that your head of house would agree that your bravery should be rewarded, despite the situation being far from ideal, I believe that I should award you some points. Situations that require bravery rarely are ideal anyway. So, I'm going to award Slytherin twenty-five points." McGonagall smiled sadly at Harry and Harry gave a small innocent smile back to McGonagall, fighting back a laugh as he watched Snape clench his fists.

"Minerva, I think it would be best if we got the children away from and contain the unconscious troll before it wakes up." Professor Quirrell pointed out.

"Yes, of course. Severus, would you walk Harry and Hermione to the hospital wing. Poppy should check them over." McGonagall asked.

Harry had nearly forgotten about Hermione, and he turned to look back at the girl who was still sitting under the sink, looking at Harry through puffy eyes in awe.

"Of course," Snape growled and turned to leave the bathroom. Harry watched as Hermione scurried up and stumbled over the rubble towards after the professor, and Harry began to follow too.

They got out into the corridor and found Snape waiting for them.

"I do not have all night to escort you insolent brats around." He stated impatiently before turning and billowing away. Harry noticed his slightly limp and smirked as he followed the man.

"How did you do that?" Hermione said suddenly as she appeared besides Harry.

"Do what?" Harry asked nonchalantly.

"That magic, it's like nothing I've ever read about before. It was like, I don't know what it was like. It was just pure magic." She tried to explain. Snape came to a dead stop at her words.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just used a levitating charm." Harry said as the professor began to limp along again ahead of them

"But I saw—" Hermione began, but Harry cut her off.

"I really think that we need to get you to the hospital wing. Clearly you've suffered some trauma." Harry said the lines he had rehearsed in his head.

"But," Hermione began but then stopped. Harry grinned internally, satisfied that he had gotten her to drop it. At this point they had made their way into the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey came rushing over upon seeing the rubble covered and slightly bruised and cut up Hermione.

"What happened? Oh, come sit down, dear." Madam Pomfrey said, already running diagnostic spells before even waiting for an answer.

"A troll attack." Professor Snape answered dryly, before turning to leave. Madam Pomfrey's eyes widened. As he reached the door he turned back. "Mr. Potter, I will expect to see you in my office after you have finished here." And then he left.

Harry frowned. He liked the version of Professor Snape that seemed to be afraid of him. Apparently though, Snape had conquered his fear, or was at least going to try to. But maybe his professor would have something interesting to say, although if his lessons were setting any standards, he shouldn't get his hopes up.

* * *

About an hour later, after every diagnostics spell known to wizard had been cast on him and he had been forced to take a calming draught, Harry finally left the hospital wing. Hermione stayed behind, having been given a dreamless sleep potion and forced to stay the night for observation. _What was Pomfrey worried about her having nightmares and suffering some sort of mental breakdown from the trauma?_ He fortunately did not know Hermione that well, but he did know her well enough to know that some stupid troll would, unfortunately, not be able to drive her into a state of catatonia.

Harry made his way down to the dungeons, once again taking his sweet time. He figured more would have changed in the few weeks since the last time he had done this, but as he walked to Professor Snape's office to be questioned about his use of abnormally powerful magic for the second time since the beginning of the school year, it seemed as if things hadn't changed that much at all.

Harry got to the office and knocked on the door, and once again the door swung open by itself.

"You wished to see me?" Harry cut to the chase as he stepped into the small room.

"I'd just like to advise you that if you're going to want to keep your," Snape paused, unable to find a word Harry's secrecy spell would let him use to describe Harry's power. After another moment he gave up. "A secret, then I recommend you not practice it in front of Gryffindor chatter boxes."

"I handled the situation just fine, and I couldn't pass up such a good opportunity to experiment. If that's all you had to say to me, I'll be leaving." Harry turned around to leave.

"One more moment if you will, Mr. Potter." Snape said and Harry spun around.

"I'll be counting." Harry warned childishly.

"How much have you developed it?"Harry blinked at the man's curiosity.

"I don't see why it's any of your business." Harry said haughtily.

"I don't see either. But yet, I've asked." Snape uncharacteristically muttered.

"You want to see then?" Harry grinned and he saw Snape's eyes sparkle ever so slightly for a single moment at the offer. "I'll have to update my privacy spell, but well, unfortunately you're the only person I have to show off to. But really, what good it power like this is you can't brag about it. The Malfoy's are much less powerful than I am and they do more than their share of bragging. It's only fair that I do a little myself, just to keep the universe in balance."

"After your little deal with my godson, I worry that the balance of the universe has ceased to matter." Snape said with his brow raised, clearly looking for Harry's defense of the situation.

"Oh, so you heard about that then? Well, I don't think it's really any of yours or anyone else's concern. It was a deal made between school boys, not an unbreakable vow. It only means as much as we want it to."

"How much do you want it to mean?"

"I'm not sure yet. We have plenty of time to figure out what both of us want. It's only really a bit of insurance. But anyway, I believed I was bragging about my progress on my magical development." Harry said as he waltzed a little closer to Snape who sat at his desk. "It's rather unfortunate that you of all people is the only person I have to share this with, but I suppose it's entirely my choice." Harry sighed.

"Here, I'll show you what I did." Harry said as he levitated an empty vial off of Snape's desk. "Of course, I was using my wand and I said the spell so as to not get Hermione too suspicious of me. And of course I was levitating a troll's club, which is much larger. But you get the idea."

"I really don't care about you're first year charms, Potter. Even if you can do them wandlessly and silently, and apparently manage to babble away endlessly, much to my displeasure."

"Oh?" Was all Harry said before he shot a string of golden magic out of his other hand and coiled it around his professor's neck. "This is how I really got the troll to pass out. And I can even sustain it for a while now without exhausting myself. You wanna see how long I can go for?"

The professor gasped and tried to choke out a response, but failed to even produce a sound. Harry cocked his head and watched his professor suffer with interest. If was interesting how he had been using his light magic to cause suffering while the dark magic seemed to only be good for disorienting people. Maybe his parents weren't entirely right in their beliefs that light was right and dark was wrong and there was no valid in between. The professor let out a particularly strangled sounding gasp and harry sighed.

"Fine, I'll stop. But do you want to see how far I can extend it without the help of your beloved potions then?" Harry said as he snapped back the string of light magic and pushed all of his magic out so it filled the room. The small room quickly became saturated with the magic and Harry watched as Snape's almost rolled back in his head.

After only a few moments, Harry pulled his magic back.

"I think that's enough then." Harry said before quickly exiting the room, leaving the man gasping slumped back in his chair, gaping at the boy as he left.

* * *

**A/N: As you can see Harry still has that whole saving people thing and still manages to get into trouble. I'm trying to salvage some of Harry's character from the darkishness…**

**Up Next: Some more reactions to Harry's power and recent dealings, along with the beginnings of fun with the Sorcerer's Stone (Because even if Voldemort isn't a parasite latched onto the soul of a stuttering Hogwarts Professor, he still wants it.)**


	4. Chapter 4

Harry sat in a compartment by himself as he took the train home for the holidays. Harry had wanted to ask his parents to stay at school, as all he really wanted to do was practice magic. Over the past few weeks he had gotten a bit distracted by his pure magic skills, and he decided that he needed to go back to focusing on learning more conventional, but still very necessary spells.

But his parents had sent owls to him several times leading up to the holidays and they had sounded so excited in their letters that he couldn't bring himself to even ask. Even though he knew the excitement was really their masked how desperate they were to get their son far away from people like Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape, he couldn't bring himself to even try to rain on their parade.

And so he was heading to the Burrow to a very Order Christmas. Complete with Weasley's and their ridiculous Christmas jumpers. And to make it even better, apparently Hermione had forged a friendship with Ron and was also joining them for Christmas. And then, of course, Neville would be there with his grandmother after Christmas itself. And Sirius and Remus would be there too to complete the collection of Marauders. With the notable exception of Peter Pettigrew who had somehow gotten himself tied up with Voldemort over a decade ago. But no one talked about him anymore. There would also be other miscellaneous Order members showing up throughout the holidays, with appearances to be made by Kingsley Shacklebolt, Alastor Moody, and his auror in training, Nymphadora Tonks. And of course the great Dumbledore himself would probably even show up at some point.

It was not Harry's ideal holiday.

And of course to top it all off he'd have to share a room with Ron, and Neville while he was there. Neville was usually tolerable, but sometimes he really hated Ron. As people they were pretty much polar opposites and had never been able to get past their differences. But they had a system worked out where any time Harry did something that was to mature for Ron's comprehension and pissed Ron off, Harry would play a game of chess with the boy and let him beat him to restore neutrality. It was far from a friendship, but it kept Harry from using the more harmful curses that he had taught himself on the other boy, so it was a fine system.

But on the brighter note, no one had joined Harry in his compartment that morning.

* * *

Harry stepped off the train and found himself immediately wrapped in his mother's arms.

"I've missed you so much, Harry. You have no idea." Lily said burying her head into her son's messy hair.

"I've missed you too." Harry said into his mother's chest as she smothered him.

"Let the boy go, Lil, you're going to suffocate him." James said, prompting Lily to release her grip on her son. _Thank you, a voice of reason._

Of course, Harry could only breathe freely for a moment before his father lovingly slapped Harry on the back, knocking the air out of his lungs.

"It's good to have you back, Harry." His father said as he shrunk Harry's trunk and pocketed it before guiding his family away from the train.

"So how do you like Hogwarts?" Harry's mother asked him.

"It's good, I've been learning a lot." _Just none of it was taught to me by a professor in a Hogwarts endorsed lesson._

"That's wonderful, Harry! We have to go meet the Weasley's for a portkey back to The Burrow, so we better hurry." His mother said as they approached a distinct pack of red heads in the distance.

"So, anything exciting happened in Quidditch this season so far?" James asked Harry.

"Uh, Slytherin won the first match against Hufflepuff; Gryffindor won the second match against Ravenclaw." Harry said, not mentioning the fact that he had not actually been to either match.

"I wouldn't expect it any other way. Gryffindor and Slytherin always go for the cup." James said thoughtfully as they made their way into the middle of the Weasley clan and grabbed onto a part of the rim of the umbrella that was apparently acting as their portkey moments before they were all pulled away.

Harry rolled out onto the grass in front of the burrow, contemplating getting a muggle license when he got old enough. An hour or two in a car had to be better that five seconds of _that_.

"Oi, Harry, get off my feet!" Ron exclaimed as Harry realized that he was lying on the ground on top of Ron's toes. Harry quickly rose and stumbled backwards into a Weasley twin.

"Really Harry," The twin he had run into began.

"You would think," The other twin said as he appeared out of nowhere.

"That you would have gotten the hang of this already." They finished together.

"I could only hope to be that lucky." Harry muttered, stepping away from the twins and heading towards the house.

Sirius came running out of the house with Lupin stalking after him.

"Harry!" He called as he ran up to his godson and embraced him.

"Hey Sirius." Harry greeted with a small smile.

" So I've heard about the sorting hats first mistake in a thousand years. In what universe is putting a Potter in a house lead by that sniveling Death Eater acceptable?"

"Really, Sirius, you'd think you'd have gotten over making fun of Snape at this point." Harry responded seriously.

"Yeah, Padfoot, an eleven year old is apparently more mature than you." Lupin grinned as he slapped Sirius on the back.

"So how are those Slytherin's treating you then?" Sirius asked.

"He's become best mates with Malfoy." Ron muttered, suddenly placing himself in a conversation that Harry thought that he very much did not belong in.

""I'm not best mates with Malfoy. I've talked to him maybe four or five times this year. We've just reached an agreement to keep the peace." Harry said defensively glaring at Ron.

"Yeah, like pledging yourself to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is really keeping the peace." Ron growled under his breath.

"Really? That's the rumor that you choose to believe?" Harry hissed in frustration, drawing the attention of the rest of the Weasley's and Harry's parents to their conversation with his surprisingly harsh tone. He continued to snarl at the other boy, his volume rising throughout his monologue. "I'm not a bloody Death Eater, got it? I'm not going to be a death eater, I have not aligned myself with Voldemort, and I am not planning on becoming a Dark Lord and beginning to collect my followers! Stop talking about things that you know nothing about."

"That hat obviously saw something dark in you, and you've formed an alliance with Draco Malfoy. I think I know enough." Ron yelled back at Harry, his face turning red with anger.

Harry really could not believe that they were having this conversation. It had not even been an hour since he had stepped off the Hogwarts train and he was already having a major row with Ron, on a topic he had been hoping to avoid for the entire holiday season.

"So what? So what does it matter? What does it matter?" Harry cried as his level of anger reached a breaking point and he felt as if the anger was radiating off of him in waves. He heard several gasps and Harry realized that it wasn't anger that was flowing out of him.

"Look at yourself Harry, you're radiating dark magic!" Ron yelled in horror.

Harry looked down to see the familiar deep purple aura surrounding him. His eyes widened as he looked around at the people that surrounded him and the looks of horror on their faces. And so he did the only thing that he could think of to do to try to rectify the situation at all.

"It's not all dark." Harry said as he calmed himself for a moment and pulled the magic back in, before channeling the light magic through his hands, putting his palms face up so the magic spiraled upwards into the sky. He thought about showing them how he could hurt people with the light magic, he thought about releasing the dark magic to its full extent to let them feel it, so maybe they would at least fear him, but he decided against it. He really want these people to know anything about his magic, and he was certainly going to try to keep them from knowing the full extent if he could avoid it. He just let the golden magic swirl in ribbons around him.

"Harry, you're such a liar!" He heard someone yell suddenly and Harry quickly sucked back the magic and found himself staring at Hermione. "You tried to convince me that I was going insane, that I didn't see you strangle that troll with your magic! You lied to me. You had me convinced that I was losing my mind!" He girl yelled at Harry as she shoved him in the chest.

"God, Slytherins have more discretion than Gryffindors do at least." Harry hissed back at the girl who had blown what he had been trying so hard to keep a secret straight out of the water. "And what was I supposed to say? What am I supposed to say when all of you are just waiting for a reason to call me a dark wizard since I was sorted into Slytherin? I'm sorry for disappointing everyone in trying not to disappoint anyone. But you want to know what strangled to troll; you want to know what magic I used to strangle Snape with? It's all of your sacred light magic. Do you want to know what your feared dark magic does in its pure form? Well since apparently you don't have any discretion, I'm going to give up mine. You want to see? Here." Harry said as he pushed all of his dark magic out, pushing it as far as it could go, making sure every Weasley, Potter, Black, and Werewolf that stood around him could feel it.

He watched as Ron, Hermione, and Sirius who were all standing closest to him fell to their knees and everyone else was weakened under its influence. He quickly pulled back the magic, and everyone stared at him in silence. Finally, Ron broke the silence as he stood up and cocked his head at Harry, observing him with curiosity.

"You strangled Snape?" He asked incredulously.

"Yeah, he's the one who made me see that I could do this to begin with. Made me take some potion after I saved Neville that did, well, pretty much what just happened. And then after the troll incident he asked me to do it again, and so I strangled him. Didn't hurt him or anything, I was just trying to prove a point."

"Wicked." Ron said, apparently seeing Harry's assault of the much hated Death Eater professor as all the proof he needed that Harry was not in fact a death eater himself.

"You should have seen when I had him trembling at my feet. Honestly, I've never really fantasized about becoming a Dark Lord, but I could see the appeal." Harry smirked.

Ron smiled dreamily as he surely pictured in his mind Snape bowing down to him.

"I could too." Ron grinned.

"Wait, Harry, Snape knows about this as well?" Remus asked suddenly.

"Oh, don't worry about him; I've got him under a secrecy charm. He can't say, write, or even properly replay the memory in his mind. It's safe from Voldemort. And Malfoy doesn't know about the pure magic, but he knows I'm years ahead of where I should be in my ability, but I've gotten him to keep it from his father and keep other Slytherins from writing home about me. I'm sure the information that I can do fifth year spells will reach a death eater eventually, but I doubt that they'll find the information important enough to mention to Voldemort. Voldemort won't be trying to convert, kidnap, or assassinate me any time soon." Harry said nonchalantly.

"Do you want to come play a game of chess then Harry?" Ron asked.

Harry smiled earnestly.

"Sure Ron."

* * *

Ron beat Harry at chess twice and no one mentioned the incident that had occurred that afternoon again that evening. If you didn't look too hard, the universe would have seemed to have sorted itself out. But Harry knew that couldn't possibly be the case.

All the children were encouraged to go to bed early that night, with Mrs. Weasley herding anyone under the age of seventeen upstairs into their respective bedrooms by 8:30 that evening and locked everyone into their rooms by nine. And by ten o'clock even the twins, despite their best efforts had fallen asleep, as the small explosions from the room next door finally ceased. Ron had fallen asleep without much protest, leaving Harry lying on his cot alone. The sound of muffled voices began to drift up stairs and Harry silently unlocked the door and slid down the stairs wrapped in his invisibility cloak.

He sat at the top of the last flight of stair, peaking into the dining room were the members of the Order sat around the table. Harry quickly cast a charm to amplify his hearing in order to be able to hear the conversation below him.

"Sirius, we should really wait for Dumbledore to get here before we discuss the matter any further." James said.

"But its crazy isn't it? I mean, did you have any idea? I've never seen anything like it before. It's spectacular." Sirius said with excitement. Harry was glad that Sirius didn't seem to be horrified by his magic. Despite of the contempt he felt for the lot of them sometimes, these people were his family, and it'd be nice to at least not have them hate him.

Just then the floo activated and a girl with pink hair stepped out.

"I heard Moody say there was a meeting?" She said as she took a seat at the table.

"Yeah, Tonks, because I had to get to it, not as an invitation for you to come." Moody, who Harry assumed had arrived earlier, growled from across the table.

"Well, as long as I'm here…" Tonks voice drifted off as she leaned back her chair put her feel up on the table, crossing her arms behind her head.

"Feet off the table," Mrs. Weasley snapped. "Dear." She added gently. And Tonks quickly pulled her feet off the table as the floo flared up another time and Dumbledore stepped out.

"Bother, it looks as if I've been holding everyone up. Molly forced all those poor children to go to bed at a decent hour for nothing."

"It's alright Albus. The meeting was certainly last notice. We were not expecting this." Arthur said as Dumbledore took a seat at the head of the table.

"So, any volunteers to show me their memory of exactly what happened?" Dumbledore asked pleasantly.

"I was standing right next to them when it happened. But we all know that you hardly have to ask, Albus." Sirius said as he met Dumbledore's gaze. The eye contact was held for a few minutes before Dumbledore looked around the table.

"Oh dear, this certainly is a development. What are your thoughts on the matter, James, Lily? He is your son after all." Dumbledore asked and Harry tensed. His parents had been very quiet about the whole issue, and he was worried that they despised him now.

"We didn't know anything. We thought he was a step above a squib, thought that he couldn't do magic until a year ago, and then suddenly he is quite possibly one of the most powerful wizards I have ever met. He didn't tell us about any of it." James said sadly.

"He was so worried about everyone thinking he was dark, about turning away from him. He didn't trust us to continue to love him despite anything, and looking back, I don't think we ever gave him any reason to. We were always so wrapped up in the cause that we never even considered the potential for this kind of scenario. We never expected out son to have some dark magic in him. It isn't as if it's his fault, and we should have told him that more. We should have told him that it's how you use the magic, not the color of it. But when you are trying to explain how the world works to a child, you simplify it, make it black and white, and tell stories about heroes and villains. And as he got older, he's always been kind of withdrawn and of course with the war still going on, explaining the grey's to him just never happened." Lily concluded softly.

Harry smiled sadly. He had always known that his parent meant well, but they were constantly making mistakes and refusing to own up to them if Harry tried to point them out, and after a while Harry had begun to find it harder to forgive them completely.

"I'm sure Harry knows that you didn't mean to make him feel that way that he did—" Sirius began, but Lily cut him off.

"But we did regardless. And I've come to realize that I have absolutely no idea what my son does and does not know."

"But we can fix that now Lily," Remus said. "That's what matters most."

"Maybe you could hire a tutor over the summer to work with Harry, help him to develop his abilities, give him so more guidance so Harry isn't on his own." Molly Weasley suggested.

"Why don't we train him ourselves then, keep it in the family?" Sirius said.

"There are only so many of us, Sirius, and we all already have more than enough responsibilities that we are trying to keep up with. If we worked to train Harry it would be a cycle of order members, it wouldn't give Harry the consistency he needs. And anyway, if we want Harry to actually be able to do magic we would have to get the tutor through the ministry, so Harry isn't accused of under aged magic. And it'd much easier to file a request and help make sure the person we get is trustworthy, someone who won't go telling the ministry that the eleven year old they are tutoring has stronger dark magic than most death eaters, but could still probably cast a corpeal patronus.

However, if we just told the ministry that we are going to use half of the order to train an eleven year old year old sporadically, they would become suspicious as to why an eleven year old needs training from half of the auror department along with some of the other most powerful wizards in Wizarding Britain. They'd look into, and with his dark magic minus You-Know-Who's protection, the ministry would probably find some way to make him the youngest person ever thrown in Azkaban within a year." Arthur Weasley said with a bit of disgust in his voice.

"I am afraid Arthur is quite right. We do have to take the ministry into consideration. The Potter Family hiring their son a tutor is nothing suspicious, many powerful Wizarding families do. But if the ministry did accept our request for Harry to be trained by us personally, they would be suspicious to why Harry was special, why no other child of an order member was getting this treatment.

"A ministry would be sent to look into the situation and would find Harry and Moody dueling on the front lawn, Harry holding his own more than an eleven year old should. Then not only does the ministry become a threat to the boy, but the information would surely get back to Voldemort. It appears that Harry has gone to great lengths to keep his secret, and it would not do us any good to ruin it before his second year even begins." Dumbledore explained.

"We still have the problem of the influence that boy is under being in Slytherin. He may have both light and dark magic, but that doesn't mean that one can take over if it's fed properly." Moody stated gruffly.

"From what I've heard, at this point in time Harry doesn't seem to have any aspirations of making friends anywhere, none the less in Slytherin. While that on its own is rather troubling, it is reassuring that the boy has no desire to be easily influenced. I talked to a certain hat before I came here, and he informed me that that is why he put Harry in Slytherin, because Harry was powerful, but he wanted to remain isolated, and for some reason the hat sees his isolation as advantageous to his character. He was not put in Slytherin because of his desire to form a bond with sons on Death Eaters. He was put in Slytherin because he didn't want to form bonds with Gryffindors." Dumbledore revealed and everyone at the table seemed to take a moment to take the information in.

Harry also began to take the information in. He'd be getting a tutor. Although Harry was sure that he could learn all of the magic he would ever need on his own, it would be good to have someone to practice dueling with. And he had also wanted to learn Occulumency and Legilimency. He had read books on both and had spent many hours trying to clear and organize his mind, but without anyone to practice with, none of it mattered. It would make his summer less abysmal, getting to spend more time learning something useful instead of playing Wizard Chess and degnoming gardens with Weasley's, Neville, and at this rate Hermione too.

Although Harry had not wanted the information about his magic to have gotten out so soon, he supposed it was going as well as he could have hoped. No, he was not being a given a job in the department of mysteries and being left alone for the rest of his life, but he wouldn't have to hide so much from his family anymore, and he supposed that that was a good thing in the end. Just like having an alliance with Draco was important, having the full support of the Order of the Phoenix was also important for his future.

Harry was pulled from his thoughts as he realized that the conversation downstairs was continuing.

"So, Albus, did everything go well with the stone?" Kingsley asked.

"Yes, yes. The stone is safe and should no longer be of any of your concerns." Dumbledore reassured, and Harry was struck with curiosity. _The stone? What stone?_

Suddenly Dumbledore looked very surprised and he stood up.

"I've just been reminded that I'm expected to be in Hogwarts very soon. I'll see most of you again later in the week." Dumbledore said as he made his way to the fireplace.

Harry heard Sirius mutter something like, "Reminded by what, crumple horned snorekacks?" But he now had more important things to think about than his uncles humorously feigned disrespect towards a man he wasn't even entirely sure he had exorbitant amounts of respect for himself. Harry wanted to know more about this stone. His mind began to spin with curiosity as he heard footsteps coming towards the stairs. Quickly, Harry ran back up stairs to the room he was sharing with Ron, locked the door behind him and threw himself under the covers of his cot.

A few minutes later the door to the room opened and Harry focused on evening out his breathing.

"He'll be just fine, Lily." Mrs. Weasley reassured as they stood in the door frame looking into the darkened room.

"I hope so, but it scares me Molly. He could just as easily be the next Dumbledore as he could be the next Voldemort. I don't want to lose him to his power, but the more I think about it, I lost him to it a long time ago." Lily whispered.

"He's amazing, Lily. You should be so proud of him. I've never seen anything like that before, like what he can do. And he's handled everything so well, better than you could possibly expect an eleven year old to. Really, dear, bringing death eaters to their knees and aligning himself with their children to get them to keep his secrets." She laughed softly. "I think he'll never cease to surprise us all, but in the end I know that we'll all be just fine."

"You're right," Harry could hear his mother smile. "Poor Severus, he's got six and a half more years for Harry to give him Hell."

"It's not like the man doesn't deserve it." Molly grinned as she shut the bedroom door.

Harry felt like maybe, just maybe Mrs. Weasley was right about everything working out alright in the end. For the first time ever, Harry felt a little less aimless, a little less alone. He had people behind him who knew about him and hadn't turned away from him. Everyone had forgiven him for his secrets and he was even going to get a tutor so he could continue to grow his power with a little needed guidance. And for the cherry on top Harry had a mystery to solve: What was this stone, why was it important, and should Harry have anything to do with it?

* * *

**A/N: Yes, Neville's parents are still incapacitated, if you didn't pick that up. Their torture wasn't directly related to the prophecy, and so it still probably would have happened. I can't save everyone. It becomes impractical if suddenly no one had died or been harmed in the entire war. It is a war after all.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The holidays went pretty much as Harry had expected them to. On Christmas morning Harry found his very own red and green 'H', Weasley jumper. Mrs. Weasley had told him the jumper was Christmas colors, but Harry knew it was her trying to compromise the best that she could between the fact that Harry was in Slytherin and the fact that nearly everyone else there that morning was Gryffindor. He had also gotten more sweets than he could possibly consume in a lifetime and several books to add to his personal collection.

The day after Christmas, Neville and his grandmother joined the Weasley's, Potters, and the rest of the marauders at the burrow. Harry sat out in the snow covered yard reading a book wearing his new Weasley jumper that he had charmed to keep him warm his as all the Weasley children and Neville played Quidditch. Hermione sat next to him, also reading a book.

"I'm sorry about telling everyone about what you did to the troll. You were right; I should have used more discretion. I was just upset at you for lying to me. You had me worried that I had been seeing things and that I was going to go insane or something." Hermione said suddenly.

"The fact that you did hasn't yet proved to be too devastating, so I guess it's alright." Harry told her honestly.

"Well I am sorry anyway. I can see now why you would want to keep that kind of information a secret." Harry nodded and they fell into silence. Harry went back to the Wizarding history book that he was reading, looking for a mention of some sort of stone. And then he got an idea.

"Hey, Hermione, have you ever heard anything about some sort of special magical stone?" Harry asked, deciding that Hermione might as well put her obnoxious bookworm mind to good use.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"I was just wondering if you had ever read anything about a stone. There was something I wanted to look into, but all I can remember is that it was something about a stone. I was wondering if you could help me remember." Harry explained with a not complete lie.

"Could it have been a bezoar? Those are interesting." Hermione said. Harry shook his head.

"No, it definitely wasn't a bezoar."

"Oh, er," Hermione paused in thought. After a few minutes her eyes widened.

"What?" Harry asked her, hoping for any bit of helpful information that he could get.

"Could you be thinking about the Sorcerer's Stone?" Hermione said. Now that sounded like it had a lot more potential that a bezoar.

"Maybe, what's the sorcerer's stone?" Harry asked eagerly.

"It produces the Elixir of Life, which extends the lifespan of anyone who drinks it regularly, and turns any metal into gold. The only maker of the stone is a man named Nicolas Flamel, if I'm recalling it correctly. I saw his name on a one of Ron's Dumbledore chocolate frog cards and I looked into him because the card said he was an alchemist, and alchemy has been a dream of muggle's for thousands of years, so when it was mentioned I wanted to know if anyone succeeded at it now that I know about the Wizarding World. It took me a month to find a book with any mention of him, and that's all the information I could find. But it's really fascinating. I wish I could have found more information on it. There must be a book on it somewhere." Hermione resolved determinedly.

_This must be what Dumbledore was talking about. Dumbledore must have taken possession of the stone or moved it in some way._ The gears inside Harry's mind turned as he put the pieces together. _But why would he do that?_ _What if someone wanted to acquire the stone? Dumbledore must be protecting it._ _But who would want the stone? Well, most people would want the stone. But who would want it that would be posing a particularly large threat right now and not a hundred years ago? Well that's obvious isn't it? Voldemort. So Dumbledore must have been protecting the stone from Voldemort. But where would he be having it protected? Of course! The Cerberus! It was protecting the stone. And that's why Snape was there. He was trying to steal it for Voldemort!_

But of course Harry didn't share his excitement with Hermione, and only hummed in satisfaction before looking back to his book. Of course, just because Harry knew what the stone was and where it was, more or less, did not mean that the situation was resolved. Were Snape, and probably  
Quirrell then too, trying to steal the stone, or would Voldemort make an appearance to steal it himself? Did he care if Voldemort got the stone? If he did, did he trust that Dumbledore had effectively protected it?

Harry decided that there were too many factors that he didn't know how he felt about yet. He decided that since he spent most of his time in the empty third floor classroom and had warded in such a way that anyone who went to the stone would activate his wards, he would just wait to see if anyone went after the stone, and if they did he could decide in the moment if he wanted to do anything about it.

But Harry doubted that he would. This was all part of a game that he was trying not to play. This was between Dumbledore and Voldemort, and Harry had to see if he could trust Dumbledore to protect the stone, to see if Dumbledore was someone Harry should still respect. And if Dumbledore had grown too weak, too old and Voldemort got the stone, it did not mean that the war was won. He was sure it would take some time to make enough gold to buy up the Wizarding Britain at the very least, but he doubted an economic victory was Voldemorts style anyway.

No, Harry knew that Voldemort mostly wanted immortality. Hermione had only said that the stone would extend lifespan as long as it was consumed regularly. He assumed that meant that Voldemort could still be killed, or at the very least captured and held to die to natural causes after the effects of the last dose of Elixir he had taken wore off. If Voldemort needed to be defeated, the stone should not stop that.

"Are you sure you don't want to play Harry?" A voice said, and Harry looked up to see Neville standing over him, holding a broom. "I really could use a break. And you did fine in flying lessons in school. Plus, I was playing seeker and it's not as if the pitch is full sized, so you can just sit on the broom a few meters off the ground if you want, only having to dodge bludger's occasionally.

"If you don't have to do anything, than why do you need a break?" Harry said harshly.

"Because my butt hurts, Harry. And if you get up there and catch the snitch, the games over and maybe we can go back inside. It's freezing out here." Neville said, and Harry sighed.

"Here," Harry said, casting a warming charm on Neville's red and gold Christmas jumper before he took the broom from Neville. "You will owe me big time for this. And if I feel you should be terrified for your safety more than mine if I happen to fall off." Neville gulped as he sat down next to Hermione.

"The great Harry Potter is deigning to play Quidditch with us humble worldly beings!" Fred exclaimed as Harry approached the pitch carrying the broom.

"I must be dreaming. Pinch me Fred!" George exclaimed. Fred did. "Oi, you prat! I thought my own brother, my partner in crime, my second half, would be able to understand my sarcasm." George cried dramatically.

"And I thought my less attractive womb mate would understand that I could not pass up an opportunity to, even one as cliché as that, to be a right bother to anyone, even my own flesh and blood!" Fred replied.

"Touché!" George replied with a huge grin.

"You're really going to play Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Suppose so. If anyone hits a bludger at me I will strangle you though."

"We'll keep that in mind." The twins said.

"Okay then, well we're playing a very modified game because of the limited number of people. I had to get mom to force Percy to play, and Charlie should be inside with the Order, but mom told him he could play babysitter and keep an eye on us. Which, by the way, is unnecessary." Ron said. Charlie walked up behind Ron and joined in the conversation.

"Yeah, Ron, because you have always been the picture of maturity." Charlie grinned.

"Well he may not be, but I certainly am at least. But I don't see why I can't join the order yet. I'm practically of age." Percy said, completing the pack of Weasley siblings.

"Well, anyway," Ron said, clearly irritated by his siblings. "I'm playing chaser, with Fred as beater and Charlie as Keeper on one team. Percy is playing keeper, Ginny is playing chaser, and George is playing beater on the other team. And you'll play seeker. Usually whosever team's seeker catches the snitch get enough points to win. But because we only have enough people for one seeker, you're acting more as time keeper. When you catch the snitch, whichever team has more points at the time will win. Got it?" Ron informed Harry, and Harry nodded in response.

"So are we going to do this or not then?" Harry said, mounting his broom. The rest of the Weasley's mounted their brooms and they took off to continue with the game.

Harry sat on his broom at the edge of the pitch as close to the ground as he could. Neville was right, he had been doing just fine in flying lessons. And while he still didn't see the appeal in flying on a broom, it was not as awful as he had believed it to be.

Harry searched the pitch for the snitch, hoping to see it sooner rather than later. But there was no flashed of gold anywhere. After nearly a half hour, Harry began to fly in low circles around the perimeter of the pitch. Another half hour passed, the sun was beginning to set on the horizon and it was getting colder and Harry's warming charm was wearing off.

But then Harry saw it.

Up in the sky Harry saw a flicker of gold and took off after it immediately, suddenly forgetting his fear of heights as he flew straight up into the sky. Just as the snitch came close enough for Harry to be able to reach out for it, it dropped down towards the ground, and Harry dropped right after it. Harry reached out for it once again and the snitch was almost within his grasp when he realized that he would soon crash into the ground. Harry waited another moment, and thankfully the snitch changed direction and started to fly across the field barely a meter above the ground. Harry pulled up just before he would have crashed into the ground and continued in pursuit of the snitch.

Harry once again reached out for the snitch, but it still managed to stay just out of reach. Finally and desperately Harry launched himself from his broom, wrapping his fingers around the snitch as he rolled across the grass.

He heard several screams sound and for a moment Harry worried that Lord Voldemort himself was descending upon the burrow. But Harry picked himself up off the ground to look at the pack of ecstatic Weasley's that were coming to surround him and quickly realized that nothing remotely that interesting was happening.

"That was spectacular Harry!" Fred and George said in unison.

"That was a better show that I saw from France's seeker at the world cup last year!" Charlie said as he hit Harry on the back. Harry cringed.

"I just was cold." Harry muttered, trying and failing to convince the Weasley's that he actually had no skill.

"Harry, you were brilliant!" Ginny said.

"Well, I wouldn't expect any less from the great Harry Potter." Fred said.

"Yes, Harry if you ever change your mind about becoming an all powerful Lord, we'll follow you on your seeker skills alone." George said, bowing to Harry.

"Yeah, well I'm still cold, so I think I'm going to go inside if that alright." Harry said turning towards the burrow. He stopped when he saw several figures running towards them. Harry once again worried that there had been an attack somewhere.

But soon enough once again he realized that he needn't have though as the faces of James, followed by Sirius and Remus, became visible in the dusk.

"Harry!" His father called before embracing his son. "I always knew that you had a great seeker in you somewhere." He said into his son's hair.

"You have to try out for the team next year, Harry!" Sirius exclaimed. "Any team with you on it will win the cup for sure!"

"You do remember that I'm in Slytherin, right?" Harry muttered. His godfather seemed to ignore him.

"You could play Quidditch professionally! Wouldn't that be great, getting to travel and play Quidditch for a career?" Sirius continued.

"I'm happy that you're happy and all, but really, it's cold and dark and it would be great if we could continue this little celebration inside." _Or not_, Harry thought. But he knew his father and godfather had already been lost too far into their fantasies at this point, and that trying to talk them out of it would be futile. So instead, Harry pulled himself from his father and made his way towards the house.

Harry walked quickly towards the house, pulling away from the group that chattered excitedly behind him, who were talking about getting free tickets to the Quidditch World Cup, and debating whether Harry should play for Puddlemere United or the Tutshill Tornados, or if perhaps if having Harry on the Chuddley Cannons would bring back the team. It was agreed the although Harry's talent alone would surely get him on to the national team, playing for Puddlemere United would help ensure his spot on the national team.

Harry's blood boiled at the speculation of such ridiculous things. Harry would rather become a Dark Lord than play professional Quidditch, if those were going to be his only two options. He didn't have the heart to scream at his new fan club in frustration; however, because his father was the happiest he had seen him quite possibly ever. And all because he caught a stupid flying gold ball.

It was kind of bothersome what his parent's priorities are when it comes to their pride for him. Harry proves himself to already probably be one of the most powerful wizards in the world and was working as fast as he could to become as equally skilled with a great knowledge of spells, and his parents grudgingly accept it. Harry proves himself to be a decent seeker and suddenly Harry's father had completely restored his faith in his son.

And here was a root of the occasional contempt Harry felt for his parents.

Harry stepped inside the Burrow and was greeted by his mother who was nearly as exuberant as his father.

"Harry! We all saw your play from the kitchen window, it was wonderful dear." She said as she hugged him.

Harry was already getting tired of the hugs.

They sat down to dinner and Harry had to fight to not cut off his ears and stab out his eye's at the conversation. Apparently, James was going to buy Harry a broom as a late Christmas present when they go into Diagon Alley the next day. Which meant Harry had a surprisingly little amount of time to talk his father out of doing such a thing. Harry was really only wanted an advanced defense book that had just released an updated edition after several spells were modified to become more effective. And then the concept of modifying spells had caused him a want to book on spell creation and modification to see if he could try learning how to create his own spells.

But now his bookstore time was going to be wasted talking his father out of buying the newest and most expensive broom on the market.

As soon as he could, Harry excused himself from dinner and went upstairs to his bedroom, happy for a little bit of peace. The peace didn't last long though, as the door to the room soon opened up and Harry looked up from his cot to see Ron and Neville entering the room.

"Quite some show you gave there Harry." Ron muttered harshly.

With that comment Harry realized that this was probably the first time he had heard Ron spoken that evening, and that the boy was probably mad at him. This, of course, was the type of situation Ron would get upset over, and Harry was surprised that he had forgotten to expect this.

Everyone knew that it was Ron's dream to be a professional Quidditch player. He always told people he wanted to be an Auror because Ron wasn't actually particularly good at Quidditch and an Auror was one of the most respected careers, but being a professional Quidditch player was Ron's real dream.

Harry was actually amazed at how well Ron handled finding out about Harry's power yesterday. But then, any situation in which Snape was knocked off of his high horse was brilliant in the Gryffindor's mind, and thankfully he had been able to ignore any feelings of jealousy. He was sure it also helped that no one praised Harry on his display of powers and it had quickly earned itself a taboo. And for all he knew Ron had rationalized that as Harry was trying to hide his power, he would never earn some sort of celebrity status from it and would probably only be quietly assassinated by Voldemort when someone bothered to tell him that Harry could pose a threat. Ron kind of liked the idea of being famous, but as a Quidditch player. Not as some potential Dark Lord that had to hide his powers for his own safety even though the information would still probably someday get back to Voldemort anyway, leading to his execution.

But now, Ron had to face that Harry also was probably a better and more powerful wizard right now than Ron would ever be, but he was also a better Quidditch player. And Harry's Quidditch skills had not earned a taboo, but had been the only topic of conversation all throughout dinner. And Ron wanted more than anything for the praise to be on him and his Quidditch ability. He wanted people to believe that he was going to be a professional Quidditch player someday. But of course the praise had never gone to him, and it was now going to Harry, who didn't even seem to appreciate it.

It seemed as if everything Harry touched turned to gold, and everything Ron touched broke, and Ron's jealousy was finally coming out because of it.

And maybe Ron would have forgiven Harry if Harry had at least been able to win Gryffindor the Quidditch cup, but if Harry won any cups, it would be for Slytherin. Maybe if Harry were playing for Gryffindor someday Harry would become captain and could help Ron get a spot on the team, but once again Harry would be no help to him on Slytherin.

But not wanting to acknowledge any of this,"Yeah, I guess so." Was all Harry said in response to Ron.

Neville sat down on his cot and looked between the two boys, looking as if he was debating whether or no he should do something. Apparently he decided against it as he lay down on the cot, folding his hands behind his head and staring up and the ceiling.

"So, we're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow?" Neville said, still staring at the ceiling, clearly hoping to distract Ron before things escalated.

"Yeah, to get Harry's new Nimbus 2000." Ron growled.

"I don't want a Nimbus 2000 Ron." Harry said, sounding tired.

"Oh, a Nimbus 2000 isn't good enough for you then? What, are you going to get the Nimbus 2001? I mean, it's not due to be released for another six months, but I'm sure that won't stop the Great Harry Potter from getting one." Ron said dramatically.

"I don't want any broom, Ron. I don't want to fly. I don't want to join the Slytherin Quidditch team. I don't want to play for Puddlemere United, the Tutshill Tornadoes, or the Chuddley Canons. I don't want to play for England or Scotland or Wales. Okay? I played today because I was asked to as a favor. Because I understood that not everyone loves Quidditch as much as you Weasley's and it was unfair of me to make Neville suffer alone playing a game that he hates almost as much as I do simply because he is a nicer person that I am. I promise you that it will not become a regular occurrence. And if I can't talk my father out of buying me a broom tomorrow, you can have it for all I care, okay?"

"Really?" Ron asked at Harry's final offer, his mood completely shifted from anger to excitement.

"Yeah, sure. I'll keep it here over the summer; say there's no good space to fly back at home and I spend so much time here in the summer anyway that it's not worth taking it back and forth. Hopefully Dad won't decide to move and relocate order headquarters to rectify that. And when I can take it to school with me next year, you can try out for the Gryffindor team on it, and if you don't make the team or have to wait for the person playing the position you want to graduate then you can still take it out when the pitch is open for fun. Okay?"

"You'd really let me do that?"

"Yes. I'd really let you do that." Harry said exasperatedly. "Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to go wash up and go to bed." Harry said, grabbing his toothbrush and pajamas before leaving the room.

Ron had been neutralized, Harry's family was happy, Neville and Harry had silently formed as much of a friendship as Harry was willing to have, the Order had made no move to turn him into their secret weapon, and Harry was still just Harry. And he hoped to keep it that way.

* * *

**A/N: Well what do you know, Snape probably is actually trying to steal it this time, and it's not just Harry and Ron's paranoia. But then Quirrell probably still is too. Hmm…**

**This chapter was more filler-y than I originally intended, but since the chapter before was much more exciting then I originally intended, I hope that you'll forgive me. I originally intended the first entire two years to pretty much be filler, so I'm glad that I've managed to work out something that at least kind of resembles a plot.**

**Up Next: The last chapter of Year One. I could drag it out more, but I don't really want to. And we still have such a long way to go with this story there is no use dwelling on first year. But I do apologize if you get the "Well that escalated quickly" feeling in the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Harry went back to school the ambivalent owner of a Nimbus 2000, and Ron went back to school proudly bragging about the state of the art broom that he had spent half the holiday's flying. But Harry was the proud owner of the third edition of _Battalion of Defense: the Quintessential Combat Spells _and _How Spells come about and to Change them_, so he was also content.

School began to speed by as exams approached, and Harry's time in his classroom was spent less by practicing advanced defense spells and more time revising notes and textbooks for the steadily approaching finals. Unfortunately for Harry, he had covered that year's curriculum several years ago, and while he could turn a match into a needle and levitate things with ease, but his knowledge of Wizarding history was not very thorough and needed refreshing if he wished to score well. Not to mention the constant struggle that potions had turned into.

Although Harry was more adept at potions than most of his classmates, Snape seemed to be holding Harry to NEWT level standards. Harry could turn in a potion of equal quality to that of Draco and Hermione, but while Draco and Hermione, who despite being a Gryffindor, would both get top marks, the Professor would tell Harry every little thing that was not even done wrong, but perhaps could have been done better, and then grudgingly give him barely above average marks. And while his OWL's would not be scored by Snape, his Potions final would be, and so he assumed that if he'd like an E, because there was no way the man would ever give him an O, he would have to perform perfectly.

And so Harry practiced chopping, mixing, crushing, stirring, researching how ingredients were made more and less potent, and when they should be made more or less potent. He read all of the books required by the curriculum up through NEWT level. He took advantage of the extra practice sessions Snape offered the Slytherin's every other Saturday afternoon the three months leading up to the exams, even though that meant spending extra time with the horrid man.

He began to wonder how anyone, even Snape, could find the study of potions so fascinating. Harry had never been one for details, at least not the kind of attention to that potions required. Most kinds of magic always came so easily to Harry, but Harry could not simply will a potion to turn out perfectly and have it be so. He had to work at. And while he didn't mind some hard work, the constant and continuous hard work becoming a master of potions was requiring him was more taxing than he wished it would be.

But on the bright side, by the time Harry earned his NEWT in potions, he would probably be able to be a potions master.

And so in a strange way, despite his hatred of the man, Harry had developed a bit of respect for Severus Snape. He appreciated that the professor was holding him to that standards that a boy with Harry's magical ability should be held to. He liked that the man was giving Harry a challenge that all of his other classes did not give him. And he was glad that Snape seemed to respect Harry's privacy and his power and had not tried to violate either.

Finally the exam season had came and went, and Harry produced what Harry though was a perfect forgetfulness potion and had created the most elegant golden jewel encrusted snuffbox ever to exist. His pineapple had preformed a particularly impressive tap dance that had been called for an encore before it received a standing ovation. And he even managed to remember the favorite color of the man who invented the self stirring cauldron. He even secretly hoped that he would outscore Hermione in something, which would shut her up for at least a good half hour when she visited Ron and Neville, and therefore by association Harry, at the Burrow that summer.

Harry was looking forward to going back home, to his home, not the Weasley infested burrow. His parents had gotten him a tutor as had been agreed on over the winter holiday, and he was looking forward to being able to round off his knowledge of magic. He would have to go to the Burrow in August before school started because it was easier for his parents to work on Order business from the Burrow, but at the very least his tutor would still be coming despite the change of location.

It was late in the evening one night the week following final examinations before they went home and Harry was in his third floor classroom practicing a transfiguration that would turn a rock or a piece of rubble into a sword. Of course, Harry knew nothing about sword fighting and if he got into a battle tomorrow and had to use a sword in fighting his enemy he would probably end up stabbing himself by mistake. But he would order a book on sword fighting once he got home and would ask his tutor if they knew anything about sword fighting.

But Harry wasn't worried about fighting a battle tomorrow anyway. A spell like this could be hugely advantageous to him someday, and that's what he was concerned with. He was already sure that he did not want to participate in Dumbledore's and Voldemort's war unless he was forcibly dragged into it or had no other choice. But he did not know what the future held for him, and someday being able to transfigure debris into swords could prove helpful.

Harry was transfiguring his pile of swords back into rocks, proud that his swords could remain transfigured for at least an hour on their own. He was out of time for tonight though, and couldn't risk leaving a pile of swords lying around.

He changed the last sword back into a rock and threw the rock into the pile that sat on a desk. He was almost done cleaning up when suddenly his ward activated. Harry quickly pulled his invisibility cloak over himself and stepped out into the hallway, seeing the door at the end of the hallway slam shut.

_The stone,_ Harry remembered.

Harry had almost forgotten about it with the pressure of his exams. But now something was going to happen he did have to make a decision about what to do about it.

There were three options that Harry could think of: He could ignore what he saw and go to bed and hope for everything to work out for the best, he could go tell Dumbledore that someone was trying to steal it, or he could go after the thief and see how the situation works itself out with his interference.

Choice one was the most practical, if not a little cowardly. Choice two was most responsible, even though it would probably only get him scolded for knowing things that he shouldn't. Choice three could get him killed, but it would be the most fun and he might learn something from it.

Choice three it was then.

Harry ran out of the classroom, still under the cloak and ran into the room at the end of the hall. He found the three headed dog napping to a harp. _The music must put it to sleep, interesting_. Harry made a mental note, just in case he ever ran into a Cerberus again. He quickly stuffed his cloak into the pocket of his robes before eying the open trapped door on the floor and jumping down through it.

He landed and quickly found himself entangled in something. For a second he struggled, feeling choked by whatever was surrounding him. But then he stopped for a moment, observed what was constricting him and thought. _This is Devils snare._ _We learned about this in herbology for goodness sakes, this isn't even some rare plant that I learned about in an obscure book. I just need to stop struggling._ And with the thought he felt himself slip through the vines, falling to a hard, much less vegetable, surface below.

Harry got up and walked ahead to find himself in a room of what appeared to be flying keys. He saw a door and a broom at the other end of the room. _Of course. _He muttered to himself internally_. Of course I'm going to have to fly to get the key to the door. I just can't get away from it, can I?_ Harry thought spitefully. Harry looked around the room at the key's wondering which key would work. He had no interest in playing trial and error for hours, and knew that there must be an easier way to do this than that.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw a large, antique key with a broken wing. _That must be it._ Harry thought as he grudgingly made his way towards the broom. He was about to mount the broom when he got an idea.

Harry released his magic and the room quickly filled with a violet haze, and all of the winged key's dropped to the ground, inanimate. Harry walked over to the large old key where it had fallen and picked it up, taking it over to the door in order to unlock it.

After unlocking the door, Harry opened and stepped through it to find himself standing at the edge of a giant chessboard. _Great_, Harry thought. He did not have time for a game of chess.

Harry sighed as he took a spot on the chessboard and began commanding the pieces across it. Harry watched as one of his own pieces was smashed by an opposing knight. _Wonderful_, to be stopped by a bunch of enchanted pieces of marble. He would have wasted his magic on those keys for nothing.

Looking at the rubble of the pawn, Harry got an idea.

_Did the Great Harry Potter really have to play by the rules?_ He wondered as he shot a beam of magic towards the knight that had just taken his pawn, and the knight exploded.

This was a new facet of Harry's light magic that Harry had been working on because strangling things began to get boring and he realized would prove to be a time consuming method of defense. After reading about Reducto and Confringo curses, Harry had decided that he'd like to be able to just throw his pure magic at things and have them explode without being tied to a curse specifically, having to worry about thinking about wandlessly and non verbally throwing the curse. Harry had discovered that releasing his magic was actually easier than doing wandless or nonverbal spells. His magic was easier to control and manipulate how he wanted when he didn't have to worry about limiting it with a specific spell.

And when Harry had decided he wanted to be able to blow things up with his pure magic at will, and it only took a few attempts before he found that he could do just that.

He walked down the board throwing his magic at the pieces, quickly and violently causing them to disintegrate one at a time.

"Check," Harry muttered sardonically as he raised his hand to the king. "And mate." Harry grinned as the beam of light caused the king to violently disintegrate.

Harry walked off the board and into the next chamber to find himself staring at an unconscious troll. _You really would think that things would have changed more than they have. _He thought as he walked past the monster. _At least I wasn't the one who had to take him down his time._ Harry thought as he made his way across the room walking to see what other obstacles awaited him.

As soon as he entered the next room, the exits were engulfed in flame. _Well, they really are trying to make this hard, aren't they? Or at least annoying._ Harry thought. He looked across the room and saw a table with several bottles and a piece of parchment resting on it. Harry walked over and picked up the parchment, reading through it.

_A logic puzzle? This was really the best they could do?_ Harry read through the piece of paper once before taking the third bottle from the line up and drinking it before walking through the flames.

He saw Professor Quirrell standing in front of a mirror in the middle of the chamber that he entered.

"Oh, so you beat Snape to it then?" Harry wondered aloud before he even considered doing something less obvious like watching whatever was going to happen happen under his invisibility cloak. Quirrell spun around and gaped at him.

"Potter, what the hell are you doing here?" Quirrell asked.

"I don't really know actually. Curiosity killed the cat I suppose." Harry said. Quirrell's gape transformed into an amused smirk at the boys comment.

"And so you've accepted your fate then?" Quirrell said as he raised his wand at Harry.

"Oh, very clever professor. Well I guess I'm on Dumbledore's side tonight then." Harry muttered as he quickly and quietly disarmed his professor, summoning the man's wand.

"How did you do that?" Quirrell was back to gaping at his student.

"A disarming charm, you may have heard of it." Harry said dryly.

"But you're a first year!" Quirrell exclaimed.

Harry sighed.

"If there is one thing that you should know about me, it's that you really shouldn't think about me as an eleven year old."

"But," Quirrell began, but never finished, not seeming to be able to come up with an intelligent response. After a few moments Harry decided to keep talking.

"The only question now is what to do with you. I can't kill you outright. Not because I'm not able to, but because if anyone found out that I killed you while holding your wand, it would destroy me. I have a reputation that I'm trying to uphold, and that reputation relies on people thinking that I am merciful and would avoid having blood on my hands at all costs. Which I think is true to a certain extent. It actually preferably involves them thinking of me as incapable of killing, at least while I'm still a child in their eyes. But I can't just let you run back to your master and let you tell him about the child that stopped you from stealing the stone. And I could let Dumbledore deal with you, but I don't really know how much I trust the man to keep a tight enough hold on you that this information doesn't get back to your leader.

"And of course I could cast a memory charm on you, but that would be too suspicious. I don't think that I'm aware enough of the situation to ensure that that would work out in my favor. And while for some reason I can trust Snape not to try exceptionally hard to tell my secret, I don't trust you do the same. Your mind is surely weak and my memory charms may not be strong enough to stand up to Voldemort if you ever saw him again and gave him reason to think that there was something that you were hiding. So, I think I've made up my mind." He stopped and tossed Quirrell his wand.

"We're going to fight. And I'm going to kill you. But I'm going to kill you in a way that makes it look like an accident, like I wasn't aware of my own power. And Dumbledore is going to show up to find me cowering, crying, terrified of what I've done. And he's going to believe me when I tell him it was an accident. So fire away sir." Harry said, pointing his own wand at the man.

He man stared at Harry for a few moments in complete and utter shock before putting himself together enough to act.

"You really think you can beat me? You think being able to nonverbally cast a disarming charm makes you so powerful. Fighting you may not be like fighting a first year, but it will hardly be anything more than fighting a sixth year." The man taunted before throwing out his first curse. "Crucio!" The man screamed and Harry stepped out of the way of the beam of light.

"Starting with the big ones, then. That's the problem with you Death Eaters. While I'm sure Voldemort is powerful enough to cast unforgivable after unforgivable without growing tired, I've heard you Death Eaters like to imitate him, even though you aren't powerful enough to throw of more than a few unforgivables before exhausting yourselves." Harry said as he launched a stupefy at his professor, who blocked it before throwing another Cruciatus at Harry, which Harry dodged again.

"I'm practically telling you how to have a fighting chance against me, and you stubbornly believe that you're actually Merlin. And trust me, I'm nothing like fighting a sixth year. There are still things that you don't know about me." Harry said, throwing a stinging hex at his professor, which hit the man, causing him to yell out.

"Avada Kedavra!" The man screamed angrily. Harry nonchalantly stepped out of the way of the beam of green light.

"A stinging curse drove you to that? You think if you can handle the many crucio's that your dark lord has surely dealt you then you could easily tolerate an eleven year olds stinging hex. But I guess that's my cue." Harry said, unleashing his magic.

The room filled with a deep purple fog and Quirrell gasped and sunk to the floor.

"It's brilliant isn't it? But I can't have this magic kill you. It has to be the light magic. Kind of sticking it to Dumbledore I guess. You can appreciate this I assume?"

And with that Harry threw a beam of light at the man and in a rather spectacular display the magic seemed to slowly burn the man from the inside out, light bursting from within as the man cracked and crumbled into ash.

And then the room was still and silent and Harry looked at the pile of ash that stood where his professor once was and Harry realized when he had just done.

And in that moment Harry knew that even if he wasn't a purely light wizard per say, he was still good when it came down to it, and he was not evil enough to kill like it was nothing.

And Harry suddenly found that it wasn't too hard at all to act shocked at his own strength as he dropped to his knees in horror over what he had just done. The feeling of power that he had had during his time in the chamber seemed to vanish, and Harry didn't feel like the all powerful wizard he had felt like moments before. He felt like an eleven year old. And he found himself crying like an eleven year old.

Harry fell forwards onto the floor as he began to sob and shake his mind spinning in a million different directions, all concluding that he was a terrible person. A terrifying, terrible person that was destined to do no more than kill everyone whether or not he needed to, whether or not they deserved it.

He had just proved himself to be no better than Voldemort.

Harry didn't want to be Voldemort.

"Harry?" He heard a surprised and concerned voice call and he looked up through his puffy, crying eyes to see Dumbledore passing through the flames into the chamber. Harry could not bring himself to look at his headmaster.

"I, I don't know what happened to me." Harry stuttered through his tears. "I-I've killed him. I've killed him. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done it. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't-I didn't know- I just- I can't" Harry tried to find the right words to defend his actions, but couldn't. "He knew too much. He was trying to kill me." Harry whispered finally.

"Harry, why don't we get out of here?" The headmaster asked Harry as he crouched down besides the boy, feigning ignorance to the boy's confessions.

"Professor Snape will probably come and try to take it too." Harry said quietly.

"Let us not worry about that right now, my boy." Dumbledore said gently as he helped Harry up from the ground and led Harry up the stairs and out of the chamber.  
Harry looked back at the chamber as they left; looking at the mirror that stood in the center of the chamber, wondering what it was there for. As he looked a little closer though, he grew confused and he stopped for a moment to stare into the mirror. Harry was wonderstruck at the mirror. When Harry had looked into it, he saw nothing, not even his own reflection. But before Harry could think too much about that, he was forced to continue out of the chamber under the influence Dumbledore's guiding hand on his shoulder.

* * *

Harry sat in the chair across from Dumbledore's desk in the headmaster's office.

"I'm going to floo your parents soon, but first I think it would be best if you told me what happened, while it's still fresh in your mind."

Harry stared at his hands, twiddling his thumbs nervously, as he constructed the memory that he would allow Dumbledore to steal when he finally looked up at the man. It was a short memory, but one powerful enough to convince the man that Harry was telling the truth. Harry cut out all of the banter and discussion with Quirrell, leaving only the memory of Quirrell throwing Cruciatus curses at him and Harry throwing charm and a hex back at the man. He then cut to the memory of Quirrell throwing the Killing Curse at him and then cut to Harry losing control of his magic and killing Quirrell. He locked the incriminating parts of the memory away farther back in him mind.

He knew that he was not a skilled enough Occulems to keep Dumbledore from tearing apart his mind and going through his memory like a filing cabinet if the man wanted to. But he hoped that if he reconstructed the memory put that memory first and foremost in his mind, the great wizard would not bother to look any farther.

Still looking at his hands, Harry began to tell the mostly true version of what happened.

"I know I shouldn't have been, but I was practicing magic in the empty classroom on the third floor. I just get so bored with the first year curriculum sometimes and I like to be able to practice some more challenging spells on my own. So at the beginning of the year I found this classroom and I taught myself how to ward it so it would confuse students who came near it and alert me to anyone who passed by it." Harry began.

"So on Halloween I actually didn't go to the feast at all, but I was practicing in my classroom, when my wards alerted me to someone. I ran down the hall in time to see Snape staring down a three headed dog."

"Ah, Fluffy." Dumbledore interrupted.

"What? It has a name?" Harry asked, surprised for a moment before he muttered. "Of course it has a name." He continued. "But anyway, then I ran away, not really knowing what else to do. And that's how I was near the girl's bathroom that night; I was trying to get back to the Great Hall from the third floor.

"And then I didn't really think about the monster or what Snape was doing with it until Christmas, when I overhead you mention the stone at an Order meeting. With Hermione's help I realized what you must have been talking about and put together what must have been going on. But after that I didn't really thing about it much until tonight.

"I was back in my classroom practicing some transfiguration when my wards were activated. And so I went down through the trapped door and got past all of those challenges, and I found Quirrell in the chamber. And then," Harry looked up and Dumbledore and let their eyes meet. "Then, he tried to kill me and I just don't know what happened. I just did the first thing that came to mind in order to stop him."

Dumbledore looked at Harry with an unreadable expression on his face for a few moments before he spoke.

"You've been doing a lot of things that you shouldn't be able to do, Harry." He said finally. Harry looked at the man in confusion. "I mean that you should not have been able to ward a classroom inside the castle, you should not have been able to make it past those obstacles, particularly by unaminating enchanted keys and blowing up chess pieces, and you should not have been able to throw pure magic at a man and cause him to disintegrate into nothing."

"I've never really thought much of it, much of any of it. I just did it, I guess. When I do those things I don't really think about it. They just kind of happen." Harry said honestly.

He hadn't known that you weren't supposed to be able to create your own wards within the castle, although that did make sense now that he thought about it considering the power of Hogwarts own wards. And he knew his level of power was not normal, but he didn't see why since he was that powerful he couldn't do whatever he pleased. He rarely thought before using his magic in that way, he just thought that it might solve a problem so he used it. It had not occurred to him that it still may have been expected that even the kind of magic Harry had access to would have limits. That Harry couldn't decide that he wanted to do something and then just do it.

"How did you find me then, sir?" Harry asked, not really wanting to talk about himself anymore.

"Well although most people shouldn't be able to create their own wards on the Castle, I being who I am created a ward to also alert me if anyone made it to the stones chamber." Dumbledore said with a wink and Harry nodded not knowing what else to say.

"So, what about the stone?" Harry asked after a few moments.

"I had been trying to convince Nicolas to destroy the stone for years now, and I'm sure when I tell him that the stone almost caused the death of an eleven year old boy, he'll finally agree."

"But then won't he die?" Harry asked.

"Everyone dies eventually, Harry. And Mr. Flamel has already cheated death long enough." Dumbledore said simply.

"But then two people will have died because of me." Harry mumbled.

"Flamel won't die because of you, Harry. He'll die because he's over six hundred years old and even wizards just do not live that long. And Quirrell was Death Eater. People have probably died at his hand before and would have again, you being one of them. You killed him on accident in self defense. And in the grand scheme of things, Harry, you probably saved a lot of lives with your actions."

Harry did not really feel reassured, but he didn't want to talk about any of this anymore and so he sat in silence.

As Harry sat in that office, he suddenly realized how tired he was. He was tired of all of it. This experience had only been a tiny part of a huge battle that, Dumbledore, his parents, the rest of the order, and the rest of the Wizarding world had been fighting for years.

And for the first time Harry didn't mind the thought of participation quite as much. He wanted the war to be over. He just wanted it all to be done. He wanted to be able to be just Harry in peace without having to face Death Eaters trying to kill him or worry about anyone dying. He wanted everything to go back to the state of occasional semi normalcy that he had been able to achieve on a few occasions throughout his childhood.

In that moment with that decision, Harry joined the light side in the war. It was the side that promised that things would go back to normal, that didn't want to institute sweeping change and supported genocide. He wasn't sure if he trusted Dumbledore completely, and he knew that not everything the light side thought was right and that not everything thing the dark side thought was wrong. But he could deal with that later if he wanted to. But right now he was willing to do anything for this war to be over. He was willing to be whatever they wanted him to be. He was willing to do anything for this all to be over.

"Professor," Harry began. "I was wondering if there was anything that I could do to help."

* * *

**A/N: Eep! That's the end of year one. Cool. This is exciting.**

**Next Year: Lucius Malfoy, Gilderoy Lockhart, dueling, and of course Tom Riddle**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Can someone please explain to me why Harry gets to attend an Order meeting while I still don't?" Percy Weasley asked his mother while Harry observed from across the room, trying to pretend that he wasn't there.

The whole situation with the stone and Quirrell had put a temporary damper on his summer plans, as instead of finding himself locked in him bedroom with a book the day he got back from school, he found himself at the burrow for an emergency Order meeting. But Harry had asked for this, so he supposed that it was his fault.

"Because you aren't seventeen yet and are still in school, and the meeting has to do with Harry, so it's only fair that he partakes in it." The red heads mother answered matter-of-factly, clearly unwilling to discuss the issue any further as she pushed her son out the door to go play Quidditch with his siblings.

"Come on Harry," Lily said as she appeared at his side, pulling him up off the sofa where he was sitting and into the dining room where the rest of the order was convening. Harry's mother and father knew about what happened with Quirrell already, but now Harry was going to tell the rest of the Order, and he wasn't exactly looking forward to it. He was aware that there were people in the order who had killed people before. But, none of them had done it when they were eleven. He wasn't looking forward to their reactions.

His parents had been walking on eggshells around the issue for the past few days, having become rather solemn. Harry hoped it was because they knew how hard taking a life had been on Harry but were unsure of how to comfort him over such an unusual issue, not because they were afraid that Harry would someday lose his temper and kill them. He hoped tonight at the meeting they would have to speak their opinion on the issue and Harry would discover that they weren't too disappointed in him.

Harry sat down at the table in between his parents and looked around. Only Order members who really knew Harry personally or where largely important in the order had been invited to try to make Harry more comfortable. However, as Harry looked around the table, he was not comforted by having had a casual conversation at some point or another with all the people at the table.

Harry looked around at the confused and slightly concerned faces of everyone there. Everyone was aware that Quirrell had been killed in an incident regarding the stone, and everyone knew Harry was powerful, but they had all still refused to make the connection between the two, and that was what worried Harry.

"I would like to call to order this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix, which is occurring on June 25, 1992 to discuss recent events regarding Harry Potter and the death of Quirinus Quirrell." Dumbledore said before taking a seat. "Harry, would you like to tell us about the end of your school year?" He asked gently, looking at Harry who nodded, unsure of himself. He looked around at the table and saw everyone staring at him with worry and curiosity, and decided that he might as well get this over with.

"I was bored with the first year curriculum and I wanted to practice higher level spells, so I found an unused classroom on the third floor and warded it."

"But you can't create your own wards inside of Hogwarts!" McGonagall interrupted him.

"Well I didn't know that and I did." Harry said curtly and watched as the order members exchanged unreadable glances. "Anyway, I spent a lot of time up there practicing. And so one day after my exams I was practicing a transfiguration."

"Which transfiguration?" McGonagall interrupted again with curiosity.

"I was turning stones to swords." McGonagall nodded thoughtfully, looking a little awed. "But please Professor, I'd just like to tell the story."

"Oh, yes, of course. I apologize. Continue." She said looking slightly embarrassed.

"So I was in my classroom when my wards were activated and when I went to see who it was I saw the door of the room at the end of the hall shut, and I knew it must have been Snape or Quirrell going after the stone."

"Harry knew about the stone because of a similar incident on Halloween where he saw Severus go into the room that housed the entrance to the stones chambers, an overheard comment I made about the stone, and some help from Hermione Granger as to what the stone was." Dumbledore briefly informed the Order.

"Yeah," Harry continued. "So I stupidly decided to follow the thief down into the chambers instead of reporting it and I made it to the stone room to find Quirrell."

"He blasted your chess game to smithereens, Minerva." Dumbledore added with a proud smile that surprised Harry.

"But how," She began, but Dumbledore interrupted her.

"He'll get to that." He said as he gestured to Harry to continue.

"So Quirrell saw me, obviously, and started firing unforgivables at me. I tried to stun him, but missed, and then I threw a stinging hex at him that hit him. Except that made him really angry, so he threw a killing curse at me. I dodged it, but I didn't know what to do anymore. My defense spells are good, but it's not any worth it if I hit him with ten stinging hexes before he hits me once and kills me, you know? So I did the only thing I could think of." Harry paused, not quite sure how to explain exactly what he did to Quirrell. So he showed them instead.

Harry raised his hand to a pot of flowers that sat in the middle of the table and threw a beam of light at it, causing the plant to explode.

"I did that, but to him." The room filled with gasps of horror. Lily rubbed her sons shoulder reassuringly, and for once Harry did actually feel a little reassured at him mother's touch.

"Shortly after this I found Harry collapsed in distress on the floor of the chamber and got him out of there." Dumbledore finished.

"I-I mean, I meant to do. In the moment I meant for him to die, because it was going to be him or me. But I hate myself for it. I shouldn't have been there. It wasn't my place to be there and because of my curiosity a man was died at my hand. Even if he was a Death Eater, I killed him. I shouldn't have been there."

"I can't believe you ever had me convince that letting Death Eater's in to Hogwarts would be good strategy!" Mrs. Weasley cried to Dumbledore.

"You must understand that I didn't anticipate students coming to harm at their hands, Molly. I didn't anticipate a Wizard of Harry's power to be a first year at Hogwarts. All of the circumstances that surround the incident are rather extraordinary and could not have been anticipated. If I had know that by having Quirrell as a Hogwarts professor or that by hiding the stone within Hogwarts would end up with a first year dueling for his life I certainly would not have done it. You cannot imagine the remorse I feel for being responsible for what Harry has had to face." Dumbledore said solemnly.

"But that doesn't change the fact that my eleven year old son has had to fight a Death Eater to the death." James said angrily.

"But he won James, that's what matters. Harry won." Dumbledore said.

Harry was shocked that no one seemed to have a gripe with Harry for taking a life. They were angry at Dumbledore for putting Harry in danger, but they were not mad at Harry for putting himself in danger. If only they knew the things he said to Quirrell before he killed him; how he had told the man with a sardonic grin that he was going to kill him. Harry shuddered at the memory of what he had done.

"Are you alright Harry?" Lily asked, noticing as the boy shook under her hand which was still on his shoulder.

"Of course he's not okay! He's not even begun his second year and he's already nearly been killed by a Death Eater. This war is becoming too dangerous to sit around and play politics anymore, Albus. It needs to be resolved." Molly Weasley said passionately.

"I couldn't agree with you more, which is why Harry is here." Dumbledore said.

"Excuse me?" Molly choked, confused as to Dumbledore's statement.

"I believe Harry is feeling rather similar to the way that you are, Molly, to the way that most of us are, which lead him to make an offer that I could not refuse." Dumbledore said and Harry felt his mother stiffen.

"Harry?" His mother turned to him in question. "What did you offer?"

"Just to help. I only want to help." Harry said reassuringly, but his mother did not relax.

"And just how exactly are you planning on having Harry help, Albus?" James asked Dumbledore stiffly.

"By letting him do nothing more than be who he is." Dumbledore said simply.

"So you want him to be a distraction then? You want him to flaunt his power and become a distraction for Voldemort so he spends his time chasing Harry because he sees the boy as a threat while we make a plan of attack." Remus said angrily.

"Well I generally prefer the use of a more optimistic tone, but yes, that does sound about right." Dumbledore said cheerily.

"He'll die." Mrs. Weasley gasped.

"Not if we're careful."

"He's only a child, Albus. You cannot be serious about this?" McGonagall exclaimed.

"It is not as if this is my first choice, but I cannot come up with a better or more effective way of bringing Voldemort down. We could keep Harry safe only to have him killed in an attack by Voldemort that we were not prepared for. And anyway, I think it is most important what Harry and his parents think about this plan."

"So you want me to become some sort of celebrity. You want me to flaunt my power and make Voldemort feel threatened." Harry honestly wasn't sure how he could have expected Dumbledore to come up with any other plan to let Harry help. But Harry becoming some sort of icon for the light was far from ideal in Harry's mind.

"Not all at once. But we'll start planning little stunts that will start making their way into Voldemorts party. Cause Voldemort to start watching you. Make him want you or want you dead. Then we'll protect you with everything we've got. You're already very safe anyway, spending most of the year at Hogwarts and the rest of the year here or at your home, of which both places are heavily warded."

"But then everything I've been doing has been for nothing." Harry muttered.

"I know that you've worked hard to keep Draco and Severus quiet, but you can just as easily get Draco to start writing home about you. Snape will probably not be of too much help anymore unless you do some huge stunt in class that he'd have to report. But he has developed a certain bit of loyalty to you, which can be very beneficial." Dumbledore concluded.

"Snape is loyal to me? We despise each other." Harry laughed spitefully.

"I did not say that the two of you have an amiable relationship. I said he is loyal to you. Severus is a great and brilliant wizard, even though he tries to hide it as you wish to, Harry. If he had wanted the information to get to Voldemort, he would have found a way. But to my knowledge, he hasn't made any attempts to share your secret with Voldemort." Harry nodded slowly, not sure how he felt about being similar in any way to Snape, or Snape being anything but his greatest enemy.

"You aren't really going for this Harry, are you?" Sirius asked.

"Well, I mean, it isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I did say that I wanted to help. And if this is how I can help, then I'll do it.

"But Harry, you could be killed." Lily whispered.

"Yeah, or I could fall off of broom and break my neck, or get hit by a car in muggle London, or die in a potions accident, or have a violent spell that I'm practicing backfire. So what though? If this works I could save a lot of people who might otherwise die in a prolonged war. And even if I die in the process, well it's not fair to say my life is more valuable than the hundreds of others I might save. And if Voldemort wins, I died in his victory and everything I was doing was for nothing, than I'm not sure if I would have wanted to survive the war and live in Voldemorts world anyway." Harry's statement was met with silence. Finally, Tonks broke the silence.

"Are you sure you're eleven?"

"Well I am nearly twelve." Harry shrugged.

"Because that makes it any better." Sirius scoffed.

"I think we should let Harry do this." James said softly.

"James," Sirius gasped. "He's only a child. This is a war after all, and it's not child's play."

"Harry could probably pass the Auror examination at this point. He may be young, but he isn't an innocent defenseless child, Padfoot. He's battled a dark wizard three times his age and killed him. He spends his free time practicing combative spells.

"Harry probably wouldn't be outright targeted by Voldemort for a couple more years, anyway, giving him more time to develop his powers and increase his knowledge. And at that point I honestly think that if you were going to send anyone in the wizard world up against Voldemort, Harry would have the best chance of protecting himself and possibly even defeating him than any other Wizard I can think of besides Dumbledore himself. And if any of us can do our jobs right, he'll never get within a mile of Voldemort anyway." James finished.

Harry was actually rather glad that his father seemed to recognize Harry for who he was. He hadn't sugarcoated what Harry had done like everyone else had.

"Those are my thought exactly James. Now does anyone still oppose allowing Harry to help our cause?" Dumbledore said with a level of cheer that seemed kind of disturbing amidst the somber atmosphere of the room.

Harry looked around the table. Although no one looked sure of themselves, no one said anything. Dumbledore's smile grew.

"Excellent. Then I believe that we have some plans to make."

* * *

Harry's tutor turned out to be a man names Alexi Jacobson. He was a short, thin, plain looking man, and Harry quickly discovered that the man was plain in all aspects. He was not a particularly powerful wizard. Harry did gain a partner to practice dueling with, but the man knew anything about the arts that Harry was really interested in, Occulumency, Legitimacy, spell creation and modification. Mostly the man served as someone to supervise Harry's magic use so that he could use a wand without being expelled from Hogwarts for underage magic.

Harry did learn and get to practice dueling form, was allowed to practice potions so he didn't forget everything that he worked so hard to perfect over the school year, and was able to practice all of his magic with a wand, which was something he needed to do more of.

Harry had become so distracted by wandless, non verbal, and pure magic over the past year that he had hardly ever bothered to use a wand, say, or sometimes even think a spell. But by saying spells or using a wand, it did make the spells more powerful. And even as Harry strengthened his wandless and non verbal magic, his verbal and wand magic would still always be stronger, amplified by the clearer intentions.

All in all, it was not a huge waste, but it wasn't really a huge advantage to Harry either.

August came and Harry found himself stepping out of the fireplace into the Burrow to spend the rest of the summer there. Harry's parents would begin to work on order business most of the time and it was safer and more convenient for the Potter's to stay at the Burrow, much to Harry's displeasure. But thankfully this was not one of the summers where the Potter's went on vacation to visit family.

For some reason, Lily had decided that every other summer she would visit her sister and Harry's uncle and cousin for a week. It was always the most awkward and tense experience imaginable. Harry's aunt and uncle despised magic, as Aunt Petunia had always been jealous of her sister. But for some reason Lily managed to talk her sister into believing in the importance of family or some other ridiculous ideal that Harry hardly agreed with. And so, every other summer his parents would leave their wands behind and play muggle for a few days, dragging Harry along with them.

It was always truly awful.

But thankfully this year was not a Dursley year and he only had to put up with the Weasley's and the visiting Hermione for a month.

"Harry, do you want to come flying with us?" The twins asked before he had even managed to regain his balance for the floo travel. Harry looked up to see two smiling twins, a shy looking Ginny, and a defensive looking Ron, who surely was worried about Harry reclaiming his Nimbus.

"Er, no thanks. I have some reading I want to do." Harry said. The twins pouted for a second while Harry stood his ground before they shrugged and turned, leading the rest of the Weasley's outside.

"What reading?" A voice asked.

Harry turned to find Hermione sitting on the sofa, curled up with a book.

"Just some school books I'd like to reread to make sure I'm ready to start the new school year."

"Oh, you mean like _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, Magical Drafts and Potions, _and_ The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection_,

"No I mean like an _A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration, Advanced Potion Making,_ and_ Confronting the Faceless_." Harry said curtly.

"But those are all OWL and NEWT level books!" Hermione gasped. Harry just looked at her and Hermione seemed to remember who she was talking to. It was surprisingly easy to forget how intelligent Harry was. It wasn't extremely difficult to forget how powerful Harry was once you knew the extent of his power, but it was easy to forget that Harry was not just all power, but actually had bothered to procure the knowledge to use it properly.

"So, how'd you do on your finals then?" Hermione asked. "I was surprised at how easy they were."

"I scored perfectly on all of them, except for Potions. But the comments Snape gave mentioned stupid things that I should not have been graded on as a first year, like over rotation four degrees on the third round of stirring, and for adding one large, two medium, and one small mistletoe berries instead of adding two large and two small mistletoe berries, which would have made it most optimally potent. But at that point the fumes of the potion had gotten to me I guess, because I knew that." Hermione gaped at him.

"I didn't even think about the size of the berries." She muttered.

"But yet you got an O and I got an E. Just in case you needed any more evidence that life isn't fair." Harry said before turning to head upstairs to the Ron's room to unshrink his trunk. Hermione didn't call out after him, although he heard her muttering under her breath to herself.

Harry got upstairs and sat down on his cot, wandlessly unshrinking his trunk so as not to cause any trouble with underage magic. Harry took out his books and began to flip through them.

In less than a month's time, Harry would be going back to Hogwarts, and he could not be more pleased. Hopefully this year would be more interesting overall than the last one. Harry and the Order had worked out some plans that would allow Harry to show off his power a little more, which Harry would have fun with. While he didn't think he would enjoy the spotlight overall, he did kind of like impressing people.

If you asked most of the students at Hogwarts right now, despite his occasional small feats, they would have all said that Harry Potter was not a particularly impressive wizard. Because the impressive things what Harry had done, which were as few and far between as he could make them, were quickly undone as Harry pretended to struggle in defense or be unable to grasp the concept of herbology.

But this year, Harry was going to become known as impressive, not just the Slytherin who should have been put in Gryffindor, if not Hufflepuff, who is virtually powerless so he somehow managed to convince Draco Malfoy to form an alliance with him to keep from being beaten to a pulp or cursed to oblivion by his housemates on a daily basis. And it would be surprising. And Harry liked to be surprising. He liked looking around a room to dumbfounded expressions. He didn't like the popularity that would come with it, but hopefully everyone would be kind of scared of him and he would only hear quiet whispers as he entered the great hall, instead of being mobbed by want-to-be friends.

Harry at least had high hopes that he could make it all work out in his favor.

* * *

**A/N: In my story the trace for underage magic will be associated to an underage wizard's wand, not to magic done in their vicinity. I know that is not how the Trace Charm is described to work, but it seems really unpractical for the trace to work the way that it does in the books. I mean, for children who are growing up in Wizarding families, surely spells are being done in their vicinity all the time. So a student in a magical household could get away with doing more common spells without incident, but Harry could throw a cake and the world could end if the ministry was in a bad mood. It isn't really fair, not that it would be. But it being connected to underage wizard's wands seems much more practical and equally plausible as far as magic is concerned. Plus, it helps my story out a bit more in the long run, so just go with it.**

**Oh, and the whole 'Hogwarts students can get tutor and then do magic out of school' thing is probably a fan fiction thing that I'm borrowing. Don't know where it originated, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't in any of the Harry Potter books. But canon or not, I don't claim that the idea's mine.**

**Up Next: Diagon Alley and Malfoys**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

It was a few days before the start of school and Harry found himself in Diagon Alley with his parents, the Weasleys, Neville and his grandmother, and Hermione and her parents. Three of the leading light family's parading around Diagon Alley with a couple of muggles could not get scream "We don't support Voldemort" any louder, and the bunch was drawing more attention than he wanted.

Harry stood in Flourish and Blotts in the Defense section, scanning through the bindings for books he hadn't already read. The rest of his party were buying their school books, but with the exception of the several Gilderoy Lockhart books that Harry had not owned, his mother, rather embarrassingly, had, Harry was therefore already in possession of all his school books.

"So you had the same idea I had, then, since we obviously aren't going to learn anything with that fool teaching us." Draco Malfoy snidely commented as he appeared out of nowhere and gestured to the tall blond man that was standing on a raised platform in the middle of the shop.

"Just looking to continue what I was doing last year. Quirrell was a pathetic excuse for a teacher too." Harry said casually.

"He always was a rather sorry excuse for a wizard. A half blood too. Not really a shame that he's gone. Though being defeated by Dumbledore, not even directly, is rather embarrassing." Malfoy rambled; referring to the cover story Dumbledore had given the ministry to explain the Hogwarts professor's death. According to the lie, Quirrell had gone into the chamber to steal the stone but had taken the wine before passing through the flames on accident, catching himself on fire, therefore explaining the pile of ashes that were removed from the stones chamber. Draco then leaned over closer to Harry and dropped to a whisper. "Hardly could be considered a Death Eater though. Everyone knows that he was only another pawn for the Dark Lord to get inside Hogwarts. Suddenly became power hungry and was marked because he was a Hogwarts teacher."

Harry nodded looking as if he was thankful to be blessed with the information his ally had just given him, even though he thought that shrugging probably would have more appropriately expressed his emotions on the issue at this point.

"Well, look what we have here, a lion wearing a snake costume." Another voice that came out of nowhere drawled. "You must tell me how you managed that Potter." The senior Malfoy said snidely, although elegantly.

"I know some impressive shrinking charms." Harry said boldly, trying his best not to mutter his comment sarcastically. He was supposed to be seen as a threat to the Voldemort and it wouldn't help if Lucius Malfoy had memories of an unconfident brat, who was rude rather than witty.

"Is that so?" Lucius asked thoughtfully, clearly considering the implications of Harry's words. Harry grinned in his small victory.

"Yes it is sir." Harry said confidently.

"So what are you doing in front of a shelf of combative defense spell books, Mr. Potter?" Lucius asked conversationally, although the question was clearly loaded.

"As I was just telling Draco, I've grown bored of the defense curriculum at Hogwarts. The only way to get something done well after all is to do it yourself." Harry said as he pulled a book off the shelf and flipped through it. Malfoy senior eyed the cover of the book and for a millisecond looked a bit taken aback before his face warped into an expression of haughty amusement.

"I hardly think that that book is appropriate for second year." Harry smirked at the cover of the book and shrugged. He had pulled a copy of _The Dark Arts Outsmarted,_ a book that he had actually already read and mastered all the spells in, but found humor in the title in relation to those whom he was currently having conversation with.

"Harry, are you ready to go?" James asked as he came around from the next aisle and stopped in his tracks as he saw Harry's company.

"Oh, hello Lucius." James said tersely.

"James, how is it going down in the Auror Department?" Lucius asked with a false politeness.

"Fine." James replied quickly. "So are you good to go then Harry?"

"Yep, I just have one more book I'd like to get." Harry said as he held up the cover of the book.

"But don't you already have a copy of that?" James asked.

"Yeah, but it's been worn out." The taken aback look flashed again in the elder Malfoy's eyes once again, just as Harry had intended it to.

"Okay then, let's go then before your mother faints over being in the company of that git Gilderoy." James said defensively, looking over his shoulder to see Lily, Mrs. Weasley, and surprisingly enough Hermione swooning over the wizard. Harry smirked.

"I'll see you at school, Draco. It was nice seeing you Mr. Malfoy." Harry forced a large polite smile before turning to leave.

"Thank Merlin, there you two are." Arthur Weasley said as Harry and James approached him.

"Sorry, Harry had a run in with the Malfoy's." James explained.

"Him too? Lucius really can't mind his own business today, can he? First mocking poor Ginny's used books and now going after Harry." Arthur said angrily, pulling his daughter who had been standing near closer to him defensively.

"Why don't you start heading out, I have enough money to go buy my book." Harry told his father who quickly as he watched his wife flirtatiously giggle at some arrogant, unfunny joke the blond had apparently made and nodded before heading towards his wife to drag her away from the crowd that surrounded Lockhart.

Harry was paying for his book when Draco came up behind him in line.

"You seem different." Draco stated.

"Shouldn't you be with your father?" Harry asked, taking his book from the woman behind the till and making to leave the shop.

"I was just curious. You don't seem as secretive as you did last year." Draco said and Harry stopped in the alley outside the side exit to the shop.

"Well I'm not. I've decided that I'm only harming myself be pretending to be Neville Longbottom. At least maybe if more teachers knew how competent I am they would all challenge me more."

"I doubt those idiots that Dumbledore allows to call themselves professors could pose a challenge if you flat out begged them to. Sometimes I myself have thought of trying." Draco said arrogantly.

Harry shook his head slightly in distaste and ignored the blond comments

"Anyway, I don't need you keeping my secrets anymore. I'd hate to trouble you more than I've already have. And I haven't even given you anything in return."

At that point Harry turned to walk away but Draco grabbed on to him.

"Then return the favor." He said.

"By doing what?" Harry asked, caught a bit off guard.

"Teach me what you know. You already seem to know more about Defense than most defense teachers." Harry paused and thought for a moment. There was no better way to get information of Harry's power to Voldemort than by sharing a bit of Harry's arsenal of defense knowledge to the son of a Death Eater. But Harry wasn't generous enough to be a teacher. But the opportunity was unfortunately too good to pass up.

"Fine. But me not telling anyone about me teaching you will be the favor returned for you keeping my secrets. For me actually teaching you I want something else."

"What?" Draco asked suspiciously.

"I want to learn Dark Arts. I don't care if you can't do any dark spells yourself, but get me books at the very least. I'm sure you have an impressive library at Malfoy Manor. Tell your father that you don't want me to know more than you do and ask for him to send you books to study. Or simply take them and fill up a trunk with them if you don't think anyone will notice their absence. Or get that crazy Aunt of yours to teach you a few in the next few days and then learn more over Christmas. Even ask your Godfather to help you if you can do it without me becoming connected to it, but he's probably smart enough to see through you. But I don't really care. Just get me the information."

"You want to learn Dark Magic?" Draco asked, clearly shocked.

"I want to learn magic, I don't care what color it is. There are light spells that do just as much damage as dark spells. I already know some jinxes and a couple hexes, but only the less damaging ones that more considered as being more defensive than dark among light wizards. I'd like to know more though, and I'd like to not have to be reading NEWT level defense books or having to listen to Moody's war stories trying to pick out mentions of incantations of dark spells to learn them." Harry explained. Draco grinned thoughtfully.

"Okay." Malfoy grinned darkly, and although it was a slightly frightening look, Harry simply returned the grin. Malfoy continued proudly. "I know plenty of Dark magic. Now, I may not be able to help you with Fiendfyre, but I can teach you plenty of jinxes and hexes, and even a few curses. But I'll see what I can do as far as even darker magic goes. But for me keeping it a secret that you're learning the Dark Arts, you'll still owe me a favor." Draco said.

"And I don't think you'd have it any other way. Now if you excuse me, I'll have to be going. I'll get you a note with the time and place of our first meeting once I come up with a place to meet when we get to school." Draco nodded and Harry walked off to find his family and company.

"Harry, where have you been?" Lily asked as Harry appeared at her side amidst the crowd of Weasleys.

"Sorry, the line was long." Harry said.

"Oh, of course. It's just these run ins with Malfoy's have me a bit on edge, I shouldn't have gotten distracted and left you alone." She said as she stroked back Harry's hair.

"It's fine, mum. And anyway, I got to plant the first seeds of my power in Lucius Malfoy's mind. Plus I've made another deal with Draco. It was all rather advantageous, really." Harry explained as his mother looked at her son in awe, letting go of him and unconsciously standing back from him, clearly still not yet used to Harry's new more honest and open maturity.

While Harry didn't feel that he had changed, when Harry had stopped hiding his powers he had become a new person to all those that had known him before. Harry had gone from being a shy little boy struggling to keep up in a world that was much too big and confusing for him to a wizard strong, wise, and confident beyond his years wizard who spoke and carried himself as if he ruled the world in their eyes.

As a matter of fact, Harry even looked a little different. Over the summer he had a growth spurt that added two inches to his height, making him nearly the same height as most other boys his age. He had gotten his hair cut shorter and for once it actually did not grow back overnight. Harry figured it had something to do with now having a more complete control of his powers. And so, while his hair was still notoriously messy, it was a more mature short cut instead of his previously shaggy, boyish long hair. With his usual sparkling green eyes he was growing into, as his mother had phased it, "Quite a dashing young man".

The even the awkwardness that seemed to encompass Harry right down to his smile, when he did smile that is, had left as Harry mastered smirks and grins that only improved his features, instead of the childish adorable but ultimately unflattering toothy smile he used before. He had also mastered a grace in the way he moved, gliding along, instead of stumbling around unsure of himself.

Actually, if it weren't for Harry's trademark circle frames, he might not have been recognizable at all.

* * *

Two days later, Harry sat on the Hogwarts express. He found himself sitting in a compartment with Neville, Ron, and Hermione. Although he would never admit it, he did enjoy their company more than he would have last year. But he was a Slytherin after all, and Slytherins could only tolerate Gryffindors so much.

"Are you sure you aren't going to change your mind about your broom mate?" Ron asked Harry.

Ron had spent most of the train ride babbling endlessly about Quidditch. Although there were really no spots open on the Gryffindor team this year, there was a reserve chaser spot opening that Ron desperately wanted. He hoped to play on the reserve as a chaser this year because he would be more likely to get to play in an actual game as chasers were the position most often bludgeoned off their brooms. Then he planned to move into reserve keeper next year. Although it would be Wood's final year and the captain wouldn't miss a match if he wasn't dead, and Ron wouldn't get to play at all, it would line him up to take Wood's spot next year as keeper when Wood was gone.

"Yeah Ron, I'm sure."

"But Slytherins seeker position is open this year. If you don't go for it now, you'll never be able to change your mind because they'll probably pick a second or third year. So if you don't go out this year your Quidditch career will officially be over unless you kill off whoever gets seeker." Even though Harry knew that Ron wasn't aware that Harry had actually killed someone, he smirked a little at the fear that developed in the boy's eyes for a moment as he realized what he said. Harry liked that people were beginning to recognize him as someone that shouldn't be messed with. "Not that you would." Ron awkwardly added and Harry grinned and shook his head, looking back into the book he had been reading.

"I promise. If by some stroke of terrible luck I am forcibly drafted onto the Slytherin Quidditch team I'll play on a school broom, or write my parents a fitful letter insisting that I need a Nimbus 2001, if they didn't buy me one outright upon hearing the news. And then if you wanted you could even have the newer broom for all I care." Harry reassured. "But if I do join the Quidditch team, you should probably have Dumbledore make sure I'm not under the Imperius curse, because that's what it would take for me to play Quidditch. And anyway, Malfoy and about a thousand other Slytherins want that spot and if I take it from Malfoy I'll probably suddenly begin finding my knees turned around the wrong way or with an endless nosebleed or something."

Ron nodded, satisfied, almost seeming a little excited by the prospect of another new broom if Harry did happen to be cursed by a death eater who wanted to kill him in a broom accident, probably more than he should have been considering the implications of the aforementioned scenario. Harry tried to begin reading the book he was holding before he was interrupted once again.

"So have you read all of Professor Lockhart's books yet Harry?" Hermione asked and Harry scoffed.

"No. And I wasn't planning on reading any of them. Since there is no information in any of those books that would help me if I did have to fight a dark wizard. And if I fail the course because I don't know what his favorite dessert is then I'll gladly fail. I'll practice on my own, reading my own selection of books in order to have a fighting chance of passing the OWL's. At this rate I'll be the only one in a NEWT level defense class because everyone else will get Trolls because they've spent their time memorizing anecdotes about having tea with Vampires, only really learning that vampires like two lumps of sugar in their tea." Harry ranted.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but then shut it, as Harry, much to his pleasure, had her doing a lot recently. Hermione had apparently realized that Harry was actually right, much to her displeasure, and she resolved to spend a half hour every day reading defense books without full back cover pictures of Gilderoy Lockhart on them, even if he was so nice to look at.

There was a knock at the compartment door and Harry turned to see Draco Malfoy sliding open the door.

"Can I help you Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"Blaise and Theo are being pricks. I was wondering if I could sit with you for a little while." Draco asked.

"Really?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows, wondering what the real motivations were behind this situation, because Draco's excuse, if it had a thread of truth to it at all, was certainly not the whole truth. Draco glared at Harry in response to show that he never kidded. "Fine then, come sit." Harry said, patting the seat between him and Ron. Ron quickly leaped across the compartment and squished himself on the opposite seat between Hermione and Neville while Malfoy ignored how the Weasley had dramatically thrown himself out of the way of the other boy as he sat down regally.

"So, are you going out for the seeker spot for Quidditch Potter?" Malfoy asked and Harry sighed with exasperation.

"No. I'm not."

"Well then, you don't have to be so rude about it. I was just making conversation, Potter. Apparently it's an art that Gryffindors and their spawn aren't capable of mastering." Draco said haughtily and Harry rolled his eyes.

"I think the things that I've bothered to spend my time learning are much more valuable than conversation." Harry said defensively, glaring at Malfoy saying what couldn't be said directly in the presence of the current company with his eyes.

Draco leaned over to Harry's ear so their cheeks nearly touched before whispering to Harry.

"This is why you have me, Harry: to have someone to help you from destroying yourself politically. I've told you before, you may be intimidating when you want to be, but there will be times when a display of even the greatest power will not get you want you want. And who will be there to graciously help you, for a small price of course? I'll never have the power you have even right now; it's no use for me to try to deny that. But you'll never have the political skills I already have." The blond pulled away from the other boy with a smirk. "I should go change into my robes." Draco said as he stood. "I'll see you at the feast." He said before exiting the compartment.

"Blimey Harry, what was that?" Ron exclaimed as the compartment door slide shut.

"What was what?" Harry asked innocently.

"It looked like he was going to kiss you for a second." Ron's face contorted in disgust. "But I suppose those whispered sweet nothings or whatever was going on wasn't any better. And since when are you on a first name basis with Malfoy?"

Harry wasn't actually honestly sure about the answer to the last question, but he wasn't in the mood to drop the conversation and somehow have Ron provide his interpretations of the situations to the twins and have to deal with jokes about his love for Malfoy for the rest of his life.

"It was more of a manipulation if anything, actually." Harry said wryly. "He was just trying to one up me. That was actually Malfoy being insecure. He's afraid that I'm becoming so powerful that I won't need him anymore, so he was simply trying to remind me of the things that Malfoys are good at, namely exactly what he was doing just there."

"Seducing you?" Ron scoffed and Harry's eyes fell into a narrow glare.

"Politics, Ron. Politics. Malfoy are legendary politicians, if good for nothing else besides their ability to talk their way out of any situation. And unfortunately Potters are good at being hot headed, rash decision makers. He's there to help talk me out of Azkaban if I _accidentally_ lose my temper with you a few years down the road with fatal results." Harry said, nonchalantly adding in the threat that made Ron's slowly opening mouth snap back shut again.

Harry did love it when people did that.

"Well I think I'm going to change into my robes now too." Harry announced before doing exactly that.

And thankfully Ron had wizened up enough not to make a comment about Harry going to find Malfoy in the toilets to snog.

* * *

**A/N: There you go. Complete with three paragraph description that works to explain how Harry is of course at least a little more attractive physically than he was ever really made out to be… it's like a requirement, isn't it?**

**As I edited this chapter I was reminded of several things that I wanted to develop, but didn't so I'm going to have to go rework the next two and a half chapters that I've already written. So don't expect another daily update tomorrow. Sorry.**

**P.S. Bellatrix is not in Azkaban if you caught that. She probably is in hiding though because of her various crimes including her attack of the Longbottoms, though. I could say a ton about the reasoning behind all of this, but I really shouldn't double my chapter length in my A/N. And it's really a similar reason to everything else ultimately: The war never ended.**

**Up Next: Draco Harry Dark Arts/Defense and an interesting conversation with Dumbledore. Or at least that was what was planned before my memory lapse. So maybe not.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Harry sat in Defense class about ready to kill one Gilderoy Lockhart. A flock of Cornish Pixies were fluttering around the room and Lockhart, who apparently couldn't even deal with the whiny, electric blue, oversized bugs, was dismissing the class and fleeing the classroom, leaving Harry, Ron, Hermione, and interestingly enough Draco to take care of the shrieking, pointy eared twits.

"What do we do?" Hermione screamed as she swatted one of the pixies away with a textbook.

"I recommend sitting down." Harry said calmly, the pixies for some reason granting him a reasonably sized personal space bubble. Harry assumed that they knew what was good for them.

Hermione and Ron stared at him in confusion, but saw that Harry's menacing no nonsense look and quickly sat down at the desks, swatting the textbooks around their heads. Draco remained standing; looking at Harry in the kind of arrogant, 'you can't tell me what to do,' confusion only a Malfoy could muster with this level of skill.

"If you think that you're the only one who can cast a stunning spell Harry," Draco began as he raised his wand, but Hermione quickly pulled Draco down into the seat besides her, surprising him into silence. Draco quickly regained his composure, but remained quiet, indignantly watching Harry as he moved across the classroom.

Harry walked over to the professor's desk and opened the pixies cage as he released his shimmery purple magic and the pixies dropped to the floor. Harry quickly summoned the unconscious pixies into the cage and shut the door behind them, pulling his magic back in.

"Bloody Hell, Harry, I forgot about what that feels like." Ron said as he gripped the desk to steady himself as he tried to stand up. Draco opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.

"That was probably a little stronger than necessary. Those little blue gits had gotten on my nerves. I'm still working on controlling it in situations that are a little more high pressure." Harry said honestly.

Ron just gapped at him and Hermione shook her head in defeat. Draco continued to open and close his mouth a few more times before finally managing to form words as he turned to Ron.

"You knew about this?" He asked, clearly trying to sound calm and collected, but his voice rising towards the end of the question.

"Er," Ron said as he looked at Harry, hoping for Harry to tell him what he was supposed to say.

"Yeah, Ron and Hermione know. And my parents. And Dumbledore. And most of the rest of the order. So you're the first one on your side to know, so don't get angry that I didn't tell you." Harry said.

"But what about," Ron began, confused as to why Harry left out the death eater who knew of Harry's power. Harry sent Ron a glare, shutting the red haired boy up, but the damage was done.

"What about who?" Draco asked crossly. Harry sighed and walked over to Draco.

"You have to promise that this information remains to yourself for his safety. He has kept a secret for me, and if your Dark Lord found out that he had done so when he eventually finds out about the extent of my power, then this man will be in a great deal of trouble. And I know that you wouldn't want that to happen to this man, and if you know, then you risk hurting this man. So I can tell you and this man may die if you screw up. I honestly don't care if this happens, but you do.

"I can tell you and charm your memory to help keep it locked away from Legilimens, but a powerful Legilimens like Voldemort would be able to get to it if he were looking for it. And you can hope that your Dark Lord would never have any reason to get anywhere near your mind, but if he did then best case scenario the information would be old enough news that this man would only get a few minutes of the Cruciatus Curse for his lack of loyalty to his lord.

"Or you can take my personal favorite, and put together who is the only Death Eater I ever have any contact with and accept it despite wanting to know what circumstances could have possibly led to that situation." Harry then leaned in towards Draco and whispered in his ear, causing the blond boy to shudder. "And be happy that you've got very possibly the most powerful wizard in the Britain as your personal tutor."

Draco nodded silently.

"Yes, of course." He murmured before turning to leave without another word.

"Malfoy, wait," Harry called and Malfoy stopped and turned around.

"I was planning on giving you this tonight at dinner, but since you're here." Harry took a folded paper crane out of his robe pocket and it flew out of the palm of Harry's hand and over to Draco. "I'll see you later." Harry said as Draco unfolded the note, read it, and gave a quick nod before turning around and walking out of the classroom.

"What was that about?" Ron exclaimed and Harry rolled his eyes at the boy's inability to master the art of subtlety or know when things were not his business.

"It was just another move in the game, Ron. You like chess. I'm just playing a really big game of chess with Malfoy, and I'm going to someday win after smashing his entire army." Harry said as he, Ron, and Hermione made their way out of the classroom.

* * *

Harry sat out with Hermione and Neville in the stands for the Gryffindors Quidditch try outs. Gryffindor and Slytherin were going to have their try outs back to back and Hermione and Neville had managed to drag Harry out to support Ron while Draco had actually rather uncharacteristically recommended that Harry stay and watch him try out. He had made the request very snidely and commandingly, but he had still asked Harry to come none the less, and it was a bizarre gesture for the Slytherin to make.

And so, because Harry had been trying to build up a more public image, he had decided to come without needing to be hassled too much about it.

Harry watched as the want-to-be players zoomed around the pitch as Oliver Wood shouted commands. Ron was doing actually rather well for himself, but he clearly was not the best one there. However, as far as the second year players went, Ron surprisingly was about on par.

Wood called down the about twenty Gryffindors who were all fighting for the one reserve position and they landed in a mass in front of the Gryffindor Captain. He weeded through the players, rather heartlessly, although Harry was sure very politely, crushing the dreams of about half of those trying out. By some stroke of luck, or perhaps some nepotism with the twins both being on the team, Ron survived the first cut.

Wood then mounted his broom and flew up to the goal posts and called each of the remaining ten players up to throw five shots attempting to score. Ron made two and then missed two. On the last shot he had successfully managed to fake out Wood, but his aim had been a little off and the Quaffle was on path to fly straight by the goal post. With a whisper and a flick of Hermione's wand that was corrected.

"Hermione!" Harry gasped dramatically.

"W-What?" The girl stuttered nervously, trying her best to act like she had no clue as to what Harry was calling her name for, but failing miserably. Harry honestly didn't care if Hermione helped Ron cheat. Harry was a firm believer that there were no rules; only ethics, consequences, and the limitations of one's own power. But it amused him to make her feel nervous and guilty.

Surprisingly, no one had any better luck than Ron at scoring past Wood. The only other person who successfully made three goals was a sixth year.

Wood landed and called the sixth year over. Hermione sighed sadly and looked down into her lap as she determined that Ron, despite being so close, must have missed getting the position.

"Hermione, look." Neville pointed down to the disappointed, but understanding look the sixth year had on his face as he left the pitch.

Hermione instantly flew up off of her seat and ran down the stairs of the stands, Neville tailing behind her. Harry also followed quickly, but not quite as hurriedly behind them.

Harry, Neville, and Hermione made their way out on the pitch just in time to see Wood slap Ron, who had the hugest grin on his face, on the back in congratulations.

Hermione ran over to Ron and threw her arms around him and Harry and Neville walked up behind her, Harry prying Ron's broom from his hand so that he could properly hug the girl.

"Congratulations Ron!" Neville grinned at Ron as Hermione released him.

"Yeah, good show there Ron." Harry said cordially. In the excitement of the moment Ron threw an arm around Harry and grinned even larger.

"Thanks for the broom mate. I doubt I would have made it through the first round without it." Ron said as he dropped his arm from Harry.

Harry was glad that Ron had made the team, even if it was mostly because he didn't want to have to spend the next few weeks with a moping Weasley. However, this did mean that Harry would probably be pestered a little more to actually be present at some of the matches this year, which Harry was not so thrilled about.

Hermione and Ron chattered excitedly to each other while Harry stood holding what was technically his broom, waiting for Ron to reclaim his broom so Harry could go back to the stands and watch the Slytherins before returning to the castle for some much needed alone time.

"Hey Potter!" Harry heard someone yell.

Harry turned to see Draco Malfoy flying straight at him.

"What are you doing Malfoy?"

Harry yelled as the other boy approached, with seeming intent to want to plow Harry down. To even the playing field, Harry quickly mounted the broom he was holding and flew into the air, over to Draco.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry tried again as he sat on his broom in front of Malfoy as the other boy drew closer at high speeds, apparently still intent on impaling Harry with his broom.

Harry waited for a response, but Malfoy kept flying at Harry. Harry continued to wait, but just as Malfoy seemed ready to run into Harry and knock him off his broom, Harry flew up so Malfoy went speeding under him.

"What in Merlin's name are you trying to accomplish?" Harry screamed after Draco as he sped after the other boy.

Draco seemed to have gotten over trying to kill Harry and was now flying as fast as he could away from Harry.

"Malfoy, get back here and explain yourself!" Harry yelled after the other Slytherin.

Malfoy didn't respond and only kept flying away from Harry. Harry growled as he drew his body close to the handle of the broom and zoomed off after Malfoy, slowly gaining on him. He quickly caught up to Draco and flew alongside him.

"Malfoy!" Harry turned his head to yell at the boy, but Malfoy continued to look straight ahead as he tried to will his broom to go faster than it could.

"Malfoy stop!" Harry tried again.

"Come on Draco, stop it with this foolishness and tell me what on earth is going on inside that thick head of yours!" Harry yelled in frustration once again.

Draco slowed to a stop and looked at Harry and Harry hovered next to Draco. The Malfoy had a bizarre expression on his face that Harry could not read.

"I was just warming up. Don't take everything so seriously." Draco sneered.

"Whatever Draco." Harry snapped, knowing that Draco was not telling him the truth. Harry respected people's rights to their privacy and didn't mind lying to keep secrets. But he felt that Draco had given up those rights to privacy after he had tried to kill Harry.

Harry dropped to the ground and began walking back across the pitch, not in the mood to deal with Draco right now. As Harry tried to leave the pitch he ran into Wood.

"That's some of the best flying I've honestly ever seen, Potter. Better than some of the flying I saw at the World Cup this summer." The sixth year said.

"So I've been told." Harry muttered, trying to continue on his way without further comment. Harry would not be so lucky.

"So how'd you like to be the first interhouse seeker? I mean, we'd have to kick Smyth off the team, but if he saw you fly I'm sure he'd forgive me. Anything for the cup you know. Slytherin's had it to many times in a row now. It will be ours this year." Oliver rambled passionately. "So what do you say?" Wood asked.

Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Thanks, but no thanks. If that were even allowed to begin with, anyway." Harry scoffed slightly.

Suddenly, Harry and Woods hopefully brief conversation was interrupted.

"Get away from my seeker, Wood!" A snide voice called from across the pitch and Harry and Oliver turned to see Marcus Flint storming over to them from across the pitch.

"So you've already been claimed, that's it?" Wood said with an eyebrow raised, more teasingly than mean spiritedly, as he eyed Marcus Flint approaching them.

"Actually, I haven't." Harry said, turning to look at the much larger dark haired boy who was now standing in front of him. "I won't be playing for Slytherin or Gryffindor." Harry stated to the two Quidditch captains.

"So you'll be playing for Ravenclaw then? Good choice." Another voice came uninvited out of nowhere.

"You aren't even captain Davies." Oliver pointed out to the Ravenclaw who had showed up and hour early for Ravenclaw's pitch time and had taken it upon himself to represent the team in the apparent recruitment that was going on that he had seen going down.

"I'm sorry everyone, really. But I have no interest in playing Quidditch on any team."

"You're wasting your talent, Potter. What good are you to Slytherin if you won't even do the one thing you're apparently good at?" Flint snarled, angry at the rejection.

"I'm not wasting my talents, Flint. Actually, I'd be wasting my talents if I had to spend all my time at practice." Harry said with his tone rather ominous as he silently swirled some wind around the small group for added emphasis. Not that a wind charm was actually even very hard. But it wasn't in Hogwarts curriculum, so he doubted that they knew how easy the magic he was doing was. For all they know he could harness the elements at will. Which was something Harry did want to try and work on eventually, but was not something he really had any skill with yet.

And so with that, Harry took Ron's broom and walked across the pitch to Ron, Neville, and Hermione who were looking at him with curiosity.

Apparently they were used enough to Harry's antics that they had gotten over gapping at him. Harry decided that he would have to make sure he changed that.

* * *

Another month of school had passed and Harry found himself with Draco in an unused fourth floor classroom on a Sunday afternoon, as had become routine. Harry had had to give up his third floor classroom for privacy reasons. Although Harry doubted anyone would try to tell Harry that he couldn't have a room to practice in, as long as he wasn't practicing unforgivables or something. However, as his decided the major focus of his private study this year was going to be Dark magic, with a minor in tutoring Draco Malfoy, the son of one of the most influential Death Eaters, he would like to ensure his privacy.

And so, Harry had a new classroom in a relatively unused wing of the fourth floor that he had carefully warded with some new wards that he had learned. He was actually trying to test how far he could push his wards before the castle fought back. But currently the Hogwarts wards didn't seem to care about the most powerful wards that Harry could create, which after a spending a couple weeks over the summer working solely on wards was probably up to the level of people whose job it was to cast wards for the ministry.

Harry and Draco could study the Dark Arts and Defense in peace, as least as much peace as they would allow each other. Since Harry and Draco's first session, Malfoy had pretended the whole Quidditch confrontation and did even bring up how he had made seeker. A slight tension did exist that was rather bothersome and Harry knew that someday the whole thing would come to a head. He was not lucky enough for it to not.

One good thing had come out of the Quidditch trial day fiasco, though. Many of the upper years, well except for those in Slytherin, seemed to have begun giving a bit of respect to Harry. Roger Davies would say hello to Harry in between classes and on occasion Harry would study in the library with Oliver Wood, helping Wood with his defense spells as the older boy began his challenging NEWT level courses.

Apparently Oliver had heard from his mother how Harry was a prodigy in defense and had encouraged he son to ask for Harry's help after her son had told her about Harry's flying talents. Wood was a very skilled Wizard, even at defense, which Harry assumed his idea of struggling would be barely a step below Hermione's idea of doing poorly in a class.

Harry was also glad that he had already gotten a little bit of a reputation. That was however probably due to the gossip of the order member and not due to any direct display of his talent.

It didn't matter too much though, and Harry had begun to respect the older Gryffindor for respecting Harry enough to ask for help and not becoming embarrassed about getting help from a second year.

"We'll see who's laughing when I get my NEWT in defense." Wood had said.

But Harry's fledging camaraderie with older students aside; Draco had not mentioned anything having to do with Quidditch to Harry since that day and had focused solely on defense during their weekly study sessions.

"Okay, touch it again now." Harry told Draco.

"I'm beginning to think that this may not be worth it." Draco said as he reached out to touch the silver cup that Harry held out, quickly pulling back as the curse burned him. "I think you've got it." He hissed as he shook his hand out.

"Well, the Flagrante curse is useless to me if I can't touch the object that I've cursed without taking the curse off, so I've modified it a little bit. But it means I need a test subject to make sure it's still working, and not just that I've failed at casting the curse at all because it doesn't affect me." Harry said as he proudly examined the cursed cup. "And I think a few burns in the process of being my test subject are very much worth learning the modified spell. A curse that only you and I would know, assuming you ever get your nonverbal magic up to par. The modified curse looses most of its value if everyone knows it, and I refuse to have you go around divulging my hard work to anyone who happens to be around when you use the curse." Harry said as he pointed his wand at the cup again, casting another modified curse.

"Sometimes I think you don't understand how lucky you are to have been given this opportunity." Harry continued, rather self-importantly. "What we have going here is comparable to if Voldemort has taken you as an apprentice, except I'm less likely to try to kill you or take over the world. But you treat this as if I'm some sixth year that your father is paying to tutor you." Harry drawled eerily, finishing with a dramatically frightening sigh. Draco's eyes narrowed, but only because over the past month he had trained his eyes to narrow in defiance when they really wanted to widen in shock.

"I'm so sorry, Lord Potter." Draco growled sarcastically. Harry smirked at the other boy and threw the silver cup at him.

"Catch." Harry commanded and Draco caught the cup and cringed, expecting agony to erupt in his hands.

"Did you take the curse off?" Draco asked, turning over the cup in his hand and looking at it curiously.

"No, I didn't. Here, give it back." Harry pointed his wand at the cup again and handed the cup back to Draco.

Draco took the cup and hissed as he dropped the cup to the floor.

"Are you quite done marring my once perfect hands?" Draco hissed as he held up his red and swollen hands.

"Oh shush, you expect to achieve greatness without a few scars? And we almost are for today, as a matter of fact." Harry said as he summoned the cup back from the floor. "We just need to go find Hermione."

"Oh? Then where are the Great Harry Potter's scars?" Draco bit out. "And what could we possibly need the mudblood for?"

Harry ignored both questions and took a small vial containing a burn salve out of his bag before swinging his bag over his shoulder. He turned to Draco.

"You're such a sissy, Dray." Harry mocked, doing a fine imitation of Pansy Parkinson, before he tossed the stopped vial to Draco. "Here, rub this into your hands and the only scars left from this experience will be the ones marking your brain, often known as memories." Harry said before making his way out of the room.

Draco unstopped the vial and poured and rubbed the salve into his hands as he hurried after Harry, who was making his way towards the library.

After making his way across the castle, Harry walked up to Hermione who sat in her favorite corner of the library under a window.

"Hey, Hermione, did you ever study any muggle chemistry?" Harry asked her and Hermione looked up out of her book, not even looking a bit surprised at Harry's sporadic question.

Although Harry would refuse to call them friends, the students at Hogwarts that Harry associated himself with were all slowly becoming most used to Harry's commanding behavior. Draco and Ron were becoming masters of spite as far as Harry was concerned, while Hermione and Neville would just act as if they weren't slightly terrified of the dark haired boy that often looked as if he was about to kill them when he talked to them.

Harry worried that they were beginning to think that Harry was mostly talk, and he desperately needed to remedy that.

"A little bit, but muggles don't usually teach sciences like that until the secondary level, which I didn't make it to in my muggle schooling before I came here. I have read about it some on my own though." Hermione responded. "Why?" She asked cocking her head in curiosity at Harry.

"Could you tell me if you think this cup is pure metal or if it contains other metals?" Harry said handing her the cup. Draco showed up behind Harry in that moment and his eyes narrowed in surprise as Hermione was not screaming in pain as she held the cursed cup.

Hermione eyed Malfoy, a bit of curiosity accompanying the usual disgust that was in her eyes whenever she looked at the pure blood superiority preaching Slytherin, before returning her focus to the cup.

"It looks and feels like silver and not tin or something, but I couldn't tell you if it were an alloy or something. Why?" She asked.

"Oh, just a transfiguration that I wanted to try. It requires silver though, and if I use anything besides silver there could be adverse effects."

"Oh, okay. What transfiguration?" Hermione asked, feeling as if that couldn't possibly be the whole reason Malfoy looked like he was waiting for her to burst into flames and not because the blond wanted her to.

"Really quite cool, as close as anyone has ever gotten to alchemy, besides the stone of course. Transfigures silver into any lesser metal. It's actually probably rather worthless, as what would ever be the purpose of being able to turn silver into aluminum. Apparently it's been used to change valuables into things not of value to stop thieves or greedy peasant lords or something from stealing heirlooms. It's more of a novelty now. I found it in an old book I found in Flourish and Blotts over the summer. But I thought I'd try it anyway. But if this isn't the pure metal, it could very well explode when I try the transfiguration. Kind of why it fell out of use." Harry rattled off. There was actually such a transfiguration and Harry had found it over the summer, but Harry had tried it out on his a necklace of his mothers and been done with it.

Hermione only nodded at Harry's explanation.

"Then maybe you should wait until you're surer that what you have is silver."

"You're probably right. I'll wait until I go home for the holidays and I'll try it out on some of the fancy real silverware we always use at Christmas dinner. Thanks Hermione." Harry said before leaving the girl to her book and exiting the library, Draco tailing after him.

"Why wasn't she burned when I was? Did you recast the curse on the way here?" Draco asked with interest.

"No, it's the final modification. I cannot only make it so I'm not burned when I touch the cursed object, but I can also attach people to the curse that I also want to be impervious to it. In this case I attached a protection for Hermione, but not you."

"Gee, thanks." Draco muttered sarcastically.

"If you make another sarcastic comment to me between now and next week I won't teach you it." Harry darkly teased and Draco rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say, Potter." Draco snapped and Harry took his turn rolling his eyes.

"I have some work to do. I'll see you at dinner." Harry said, shaking his head as he smirked at the snarling other boy before walking away.

* * *

**A/N: I'd just like to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, Favorited, and followed this story. It really means the world to me. And the reviews I got were actually really helpful in helping me make decisions about some of the things that I want to do in this story that I hadn't made up my mind about yet, even if they may not have been written with that intent. So thanks a million, to everyone. Really. It apparently doesn't take a lot to make me ecstatic. And so I have blown off all the work I was supposed to do this evening and wrote so I could update again instead :)**

**Oh and the next two chapters may begin a little abruptly and have slightly weird organization. Hopefully you won't even notice it, but the way in which I had to regroup things ended up destroying my ever so thoughtfully written chapter introductions and conclusions. Ha (she scoffed).**

**Up Next: Dueling Club and that conversation with Dumbledore I promised but had to move things in order to make room for Quidditch.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Harry was walking alone down the corridor from the Slytherin dorms in the dungeons up to the transfiguration classroom when he though he heard something. Harry looked around to try to determine the origin of the noise, but found the hallway deserted.

Then he heard the noise again, this time recognizing the sound as a hiss.

Harry stilled and listened for the noise and the hissing noise grew into hissed words.

"_Must kill!"_ The sourceless voice hissed.

_Oh, this cannot be good. _Harry thought. But, since there did not appear to be anything he could do about it or any proof to what he had heard, Harry continued on to transfiguration before he was late, hoping that he was both insane and not so at the same time.

Hearing voices was never a good sign.

* * *

Harry sat in Defense class, feeling terribly bored as he watched the show that Lockhart put on and called defense class.

"Because of recent events," Lockhart began and a shutter went through the class. A few weeks ago on Halloween Mrs. Norris had been found paralyzed with a note written on the wall in blood saying that a chamber had been opened. Harry had been more exasperated than frightened by all of this. He did not want to deal with any more chambers. And also rather unfortunately, Harry had heard a few more threatening hissed whispers since the first time he had heard the voice, which was also disconcerting. Harry was however curious as to what Lockhart could possibly want to do in light of the recent events. He had to wait much longer than he should have to find out because of the tedious, time consuming dramatic flourish with which Lockhart said and did everything. "I have been given permission by Dumbledore to host a Dueling Club." Lockhart finally concluded as he revealed a large, ornately decorated poster that was advertising the new club.

Now that had caught Harry's attention more so than anything the professor had ever said before. _A dueling club, really? Was he supposed to show off?_ This was not part of the Orders plans to make Harry's powers known. He supposed that it was finally time that he met with Dumbledore to discuss all of the recent events.

"The first meeting will be on the 17th of December, two weeks from now, and while attendance is not mandatory, I hope that every single one of you decides to attend as it will be greatly advantageous for all of you to know how to defend yourselves."

_Because you have proved to be able to teach us how to defend ourselves_, Harry thought sarcastically. Draco seemed to be thinking the same thing because he raised his hand.

"Will you be the only professor leading the club, sir?" He asked.

"I will be leading the club with the assistance of Professor Snape." Lockhart answered and a dark grin tugged at Harry's lips. If Harry was going to be allowed to show off, he couldn't have any more fun than doing it in front of Snape. Harry loved surprising that man who was usually so notoriously composed.

_Yes_, Harry decided definitively. He would attend dueling club and he would a little less pleasingly have to set up a meeting with Dumbledore to discuss how much he should show off, and probably also tell the man about the voices he had been hearing.

Although hearing voices was a secret Harry would usually try to keep from the man, as he had been, after the attack, Harry had had to realize that if he didn't give Dumbledore the information about the threats Harry could hear, then someone could very well die. And although he wasn't so opposed to people dying occasionally, as it was only natural, he hated having anything to do with it.

* * *

A few days later Harry sat in Dumbledore's office, looking around at the busy room, noticing everything from the wall of portraits of headmasters past to the Phoenix that sat in the corner by the desk.

"Lemon drop?" The Headmaster offered, gesturing to a tray of the yellow candies that sat on his desk.

"No thanks." Harry said quickly.

"No one ever seems to take one. I sometimes wonder why I still offer." The head master said conversationally. "So, why did you call this meeting my boy?"

"Well, recently I have been informed that next week a dueling club would be held, as authorized by you, and I was just wondering how I should, er, act at such an event." Harry fumbled a little bit. Dumbledore was the only wizard Harry knew that could make him feel a bit nervous instead of him making them feel nervous.

Although Harry thought the man was a bit to idealistic for his liking, he couldn't deny that the man was an incredibly great and powerful wizard. And even if there was a good chance that Harry beat Dumbledore in pure power, although one could never really be sure with Dumbledore, but the man was at least a century older than Harry. Although Harry was trying his darnedest, Harry could not make up for a hundred years of practice in a summer. The man did not fall for Harry's power trips like everyone else seemed to. The man seemed to see right through Harry's carefully created persona sometimes, and that made Harry uncomfortable.

"Yes, of course. Well obviously you shouldn't be using your pure magic, and you shouldn't do any wandless magic either at this point. But any spell that isn't too dark," Harry looked alarmed. "Don't worry my boy; I see no use trying to stop your curiosity. And it would be foolish of me to ever expect you to go up against a dark wizard not knowing more than a stunning charm. But don't think for a moment that I'll let you get away with using that kind of magic on anyone who doesn't know that type of magic themselves.

"But not everyone is aware of your situation as I am, and not everyone would be so forgiving of your interest in such spells and so trusting of you to know when and when such spells are appropriate. But as far as dueling club goes, it would probably best if you avoided such magic. You can also probably get away with some nonverbal magic, but only on very simple spells for now." Dumbledore concluded.

"Got it, the use of nonverbal, wandless, leg locking curses would be inappropriate." Harry joked, while her tried to sort out in his head what spells in his repertoire he would be able to use.

"Yes, that is exactly the type of spell that should not be used in dueling club. Did you have anything else that you wished to discuss with me?" Dumbledore asked, twinkling a little more than usual, which Harry knew that the headmaster expected Harry to provide him with more information.

"Er, yeah. Something else has come up that I think I should tell you about."

"Oh?" Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, recently I've been hearing things." Harry looked at Dumbledore and the man's face was unreadable. "Voices, I guess. Hissing voices that are stating their desires to kill." Dumbledore's face remained unreadable and Harry began to panic. "I mean maybe I'm crazy and overtired and have been practicing too many dark spells and I should take some time off from training. But with the whole thing about the chamber and Mrs. Norris, I didn't want whatever is attached to this voice to succeed in what it wants to do. I don't want someone to die again because I just kind of ignored it until it's too late again. So I just thought I'd tell you. Because you would know more about what's going on than I am, and maybe my own little bit of insight into whatever is going on it could keep people safe. If someone dies here again, I don't want it to be my fault." Harry rambled on, trying to see something on his headmasters face.

"Harry, have you ever talked to a snake before?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"What? Wizards can't talk to animals, even powerful ones." Harry said, confused.

"Harry, would you be willing to try?"

"What?" Harry asked again in confusion as a meter long deep green snake with a golden diamond pattern running down its back suddenly appeared on the desk before Dumbledore.

"Go on Harry, be polite." Dumbledore said nodding towards the snake as if he expected Harry to greet the snake. Harry gaped at the man and looked at the snake for a few moments before finally just giving up.

"_Hello_," He said to the snake. "_What's your name?"_ He paused_ "Mine's Harry."_

"_Ondula_," The snake hissed back much to Harry's surprise. "_I've heard about men who can speak to snakess, but there weren't thought to be any left." _The snake looked Harry up and down as well as a snake could. "_None the less a boy._"

"_I'm a boy only in size and age."_ Harry hissed back as he let a cloud of dark magic surround the snake as he coiled a thread of light magic around the snake. "_I could strangle you easier than you could strangle me_." Harry said he gave his magic a jerk, tightening it around the snake, before pulling it pack.

"_Oh, so much power in such an unassuming little boy_."

"_Yesss ,and I wouldn't have it any other way._"

"Harry, have you ever heard of Parseltongue?" Dumbledore interrupted.

"Oh," Harry said, suddenly remembering the strange and rare power of Salazar Slytherin. It had never occurred to Harry that he might be a Parseltongue, and he had been too caught up in the mystery of the voices to consider that they might be in the rare language.

"How could I be speaking a language and not know it? How could I have not known that I was a parselmouth?" Harry asked in confusion as Ondula slithered across the desk and into Harry's lap.

"_And you're so warm. Would you be my powerful little boy_?" Ondula hissed. Harry scoffed at the snake.

"_I'm not sure if I should be honored or creeped out._" Harry told the snake.

"_You should be so honored._" Ondula hissed proudly as she worked her way up around Harry's shoulders. Harry smirked.

"_Well, I'm not sure what Dumbledore intended to do with you._" Harry stated.

"_The old man, I can deal with him._" Ondula began to make her way from Harry over to Dumbledore.

"_I'm sure you can," _Harry laughed as the snake prepared to strangle to the wizard_. "But why don't I just ask him?"_

"Ondula wants to know if I can keep her. She might try to strangle you if you don't say yes." Harry told Dumbledore, deciding not to use the undignified wording that the snake had provided in describing their potential relationship. Dumbledore finally looked a little taken a back, but Harry was not satisfied because of it. Out of all the things that he had said to Dumbledore this evening that should not have been the thing that caught him by surprise. Dumbledore composed himself and spoke.

"Sure, my boy. But it would be best if you didn't talk to her in public just yet. Or take her out of your dormitory." Dumbledore responded after considering the situation carefully.

"_He said yes, I just am not allowed to speak to you in public and you have to stay in the dungeons_." Harry told the snake.

"_Dungeonsss_" The snake hissed with disgust.

"_Would you really think that your powerful little wizard could not cast a decant warming charm for his queen?."_ Harry said jestingly.

"_I guess that makes you my little Prince_." The snake jested back.

"_You'll call me that until the day I die won't you?_"Harry sighed.

"_And you should be so honored, my little prince_." Harry knew that if a snake could smirk, Ondula would be smirking with that comment.

"Well I can see that you'd like to get acquainted with your new familiar. Thank you for the information Harry, it was very enlightening and I will need some time to consider its implications." He said as he rose and began to walk towards the door.

Harry got up and followed, not sure about the man's haste to kick him out.

"But will you tell me when you have determined what this means?" Harry said as he was ushered out the door with Ondula now curled up inside his robes.

"Yes, of course my boy."

But Harry new that he would spend the next week researching Parseltongue and the Chamber on his own and would never discuss it with Dumbledore again until after he happened to end up fighting the giant snake that was apparently living in the walls of the school.

And Harry remembered why, despite the man's power and experience, he did not particularly like or trust Dumbledore.

But at least Harry had tried and his own conscious could be clean.

* * *

Gilderoy Lockhart looked across the crowd of first years before his eyes locked on Harry.

"Mr. Potter, why don't you come up here for a demonstration? With your father being an Auror and all I'm sure he's taught you a little bit about dueling." Lockhart said and Harry nodded and made his way up onto the platform, eager to get to have a bit of fun.

"And who shall your partner be?"

"Why don't you just do the demonstration with me professor? I mean, it's not as if we're dueling to the death or anything and you'll end up murdering a student. You're just trying to disarm me after all." Harry said innocently.

"Oh, I hardly think it would be very effective if the duel only lasted a few moments, Harry." Lockhart said, not apparently having decided that his usual clearly false modestly was overrated. Harry looked around the room to see Neville smirk knowingly at the professor's arrogance in relation to what the reality of the situation was.

"I'll duel the boy, Gilderoy." Snape said suddenly and Harry spun to look at the man in confusion. _What on earth is going through that man's head? _Harry wondered

"Well, Severus, I know that your dueling skills aren't quite up to snuff with mine, but I hardly think you're any better of a match for a second year." Lockhart said, but Snape ignored him and mad his way up onto the platform to stand opposite Harry.

"What are you hoping to accomplish with this, sir?" Harry softly hissed at the man so that no one would hear him.

"You want to put on a show, right Mr. Potter? I hardly think Lockhart is going to do that." Snape murmured back with a straightforwardness that surprised Harry.

"But what about when you lose?" Harry whispered dumbly.

"Who said I'm going to lose?" Snape said as he smirked and stepped away from Harry, taking dueling position.

"Oh, you're on professor." Harry hummed darkly as he mimicked his Snape's stance, bowing to the professor before the professor returned the bow and shot a non verbal disarming spell at Harry.

Harry erected a shield that absorbed the charm before sending a non verbal disarming charm back at the professor, who stepped out of the way of the spell before casting something that wasn't an expelliarmus.

Harry quickly put up a more powerful shield, and fired a knockback jinx at the professor. The professor stepped out of the way again.

"You're boring me, Potter." The professor sighed haughtily.

"Fine, do you want to see something new professor?" Harry said as he and Snape circled the platform with their wands drawn, trading places.

"Please do, Potter."

"I was working on this last week." Harry said as he pointed his wand straight at Snape.

There was a gasp from within the crowd of students and for a second Snape and Harry turned to see Draco straightening his robes nonchalantly. Harry had practiced his new technique with Draco last week, and the Slytherin new exactly what Harry's intentions were.

Harry looked back at Snape and smirked. Then a ray of golden light shot out of his wand and towards Snape, wrapping around the professor. After realizing he would need to be discrete with his powers, but hating not being able to use them in public, Harry had worked on redirecting his pure magic through his wand. That magic fought it at first; apparently not liking the added focus and restraint of the wand, but eventually his magic did comply.

Harry began to tighten the magic around the professor's arms. Snape tried to raise his wand at Harry, but he could only slightly raise his lower arm as he was strangled. He settled for the wands aim on the middle of the platform and muttered a spell, making a snake appear on the platform.

_Really? More snakes. Ondula is already enough of a pain._ Harry muttered in his head, although he had grown quite fond of the majestic reptile.

The snake began to make its way towards Harry, rearing its head at him as it drew close. Harry smiled innocently.

"_Hi there, I'm Harry. What's your name?"_ Harry hissed. The room, which was already silent, seemed to grow even quieter as Harry spoke to the snake. Snape, who was still being restrained by Harry's magic looked at the boy with curiosity. Even the snake looked confused for a moment.

"_A speaker? My name is Forshue."_ The large yellow snake hissed back at Harry.

"_Come here_." Harry beckoned to the snake, who slithered over to Harry and began to coil itself up Harry's leg until it rested on Harry's shoulders

"_How would you like to be King?"_ Harry asked, thinking of Ondula and the inside joke that Harry had with her.

"_King, king of what?_" Forshue asked in response.

"Not _much right now, but I have a queen for you. And of course I'm the prince._"

"_And why would I want to stay with you_?"

"_Do you see what I'm doing to the man who summoned you?_" Harry asked the snake.

"_Yesss. So?_"

"_I can do that without a wand. And I can do a similar thing with dark magic._"Harry said as he tightened his magic around Snape causing the man to choke a little.

"_I think the arrangement you've offered would be quite satisfactory_." Forshue said slowly after a few moments of considering the situation, clearly trying to appear uninterested.

"_I knew you would say that, my King. Why don't I take you to my queen?"_ Harry smirked.

_ "Of course, princeling."_ Harry sighed. That was no better than little prince. Harry looked to Snape and pulled back his magic.

"Well, this has been fun, but I've got other work to do. Thank you for the experience Professors." Harry said as he stepped off the platform and walked out of the classroom with the large and imposing snake casually coiled around his neck as the entire room stared at him with a mixture of awe and horror.

Harry made his way down to the dungeons and into the boy's dorms where he pulled open curtains of his bed. Ondula sat coiled up on his pillow under a sphere of light that Harry had created and left for her in the mornings to keep her warm.

"_Hello your majesty. I'd hate to interrupt you from your beauty sleep, but I've brought someone for you to meet._" Harry smirked as Ondula deigned to look up at him. Forshue slid off of Harry's shoulders and down on to the bed across for Ondula. "_This is Forshue. I've had made him king to your queen._" Harry hissed.

"_Who said I needed a king?_" Ondula hissed haughtily.

"_Look, that greasy haired git of a potions professor I was telling you about summoned him in a duel. And you've been complaining for the past week about how lonely and bored you are. At the very least I brought you someone to argue with, just like we would do if I stayed with you all day._" Harry explained. Ondula looked at Forshue appraisingly. "_Now_ _I have to get to dinner, if you two will excuse me_." Harry said as he closed the curtains behind him and left the snakes.

He grinned as he heard the snakes already beginning to argue behind him as he left.

"_Try not to kill each other while I'm gone._" Harry called as he threw a silencing charm behind him and walked out the door and out of dormitories.

Harry began making his way towards the Great hall when he saw Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and less and less surprisingly, but still surprisingly all the same, Draco.

"Harry! Where have you been?" Hermione asked sternly as she pulled Harry into a bathroom to talk.

"Hermione! This is girl's bathroom. We can't go in there!" Ron complained from the door. Harry rolled his eyes and pulled himself from Hermione's grasp and looked around the bathroom.

"This is Myrtle's bathroom, Ron. No one ever uses it. No one is going to see you in here. Don't get your knickers in a twist." Hermione said as Ron, Neville, and Draco grudgingly stepped into the bathroom.

"Hey, what's this?" Harry asked as he spotted something on the floor. He went to pick it up as he heard an unfamiliar voice choke out a sob.

"Someone threw it at me." A transparent girl cried as she appeared floating in front of Harry.

"Who threw it at you?" Harry asked, acting unfazed by the ghost.

"Well I don't know." The girl hiccupped.

"Myrtle, we really need to talk to Harry right now. Could you excuse us?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, so it doesn't matter that someone assaulted Myrtle? After all she's only a ghost! What does she matter?" The girl wailed.

"It goes right through her right? It wouldn't even hurt." Ron muttered to Neville.

"Oh, of course it doesn't matter because it doesn't hurt! How would you feel of someone threw something at you, even if it didn't hurt!" Myrtle screamed before zooming off into a toilet stall, sobbing hysterically.

Harry had picked up what he had discovered to be a diary and was flipping through it.

"There is nothing in here." Harry stated.

"Oh, enough about the book!" Hermione said in frustration and joined Ron, Neville, and Draco in covering up their ears to block out the Myrtle's wailing.

Harry sighed and shoved the diary into the pocket of his robe before casting a silencing charm over Myrtles stall.

"I'm standing in a girl's bathroom with a banshee because?" He said, expressing his annoyance.

"Why didn't you tell me that you are a parselmouth?" Draco asked accusingly.

"I didn't know until about a week ago. And Dumbledore advised me not to tell anyone yet. But well, this opportunity was too good to pass up. Plus Ondula has been bothering me and now at least she has someone else to banter with."

"Ondula?" Neville asked.

"Yeah. She's a snake Dumbledore summoned when he was trying to figure out if I was a parselmouth."

"So you really didn't know until recently?" Hermione asked.

"Er, yeah. I mean I know it's rare and the only person thought to be able to do it is Voldemort, but everyone already thought that I was a little dark and I am in Slytherin, so having a Slytherin talent is hardly the end of the world. I mean maybe the Potter line was connected to Slytherin somewhere along the way or my mom is descended from a squib who was a descendant of Slytherin. It's really not too huge of a deal, at least not in comparison to my pure magic." Harry explained the conclusion that he had come to after researching in the libraries restricted section over the past week.

"But Harry," Hermione began. "With the recent events and you now apparently being the heir of Slytherin, everyone already thinks that you're the one who's opened the chamber!" Hermione said exasperatedly.

"But I'm not." Was all Harry could manage to say. Harry felt like a moron for not having considered the implications of his newfound ability on the opening of the chamber. Of course everyone would think that Harry was responsible for the opening of the chamber. Harry had wanted to be known as powerful, but he didn't want to be known as an attempted murder.

"Well it isn't looking very good Harry."

"Well I'm not doing it and it's not as if anyone has any real proof, so let them think what they want. I don't care." Harry said as he stormed out of the bathroom and up to the library. He wasn't hungry any more.

* * *

**A/N: Ondula is a namified version of the word for 'wave' in various languages including French, Spanish and Italian, which can also be portrayed to mean 'slither,' particularly in French with the verb 'onduler,' more or less anyway.**

**Forshue is a bastardized spelling of fourchu, which is French for forked… cause snakes have forked tongues… and all the other snake related words I could think of were cognates. And while I would never name a child either, I think that Ondula and Forshue (Which is pronounced like Four-Shoe in my mind anyway just in case there was doubt about that and Ondula is On-do-la just in case…) sound like such a cute snake couple :P**

**How is Harry a parselmouth if he isn't a Horcrux? Mostly because I like him that way.**

**POSSIBLY IMPORTANT: Someone asked about pairings, and I completely understand wanting to know. As I said in the first chapter this is a Harry/Voldemort fic, and their relationship will definitely start off more mentor than romantic, and I honestly haven't decided yet if by the end of the story it will be romantic or still just a mentor relationship (If you have strong opinions on this going one way or the other feel free to tell me. You could probably easily talk me into appeasing you). Right now I'm sort of developing a bit of a Harry/Draco thing potentially, if you didn't pick that up… but that definitely will not be the pairing at the end of the story. I actually think that I'll put Draco and Hermione together in the end, because I think that's always interesting. At this point Snape will probably get an OC, but I am thinking he'll be gay (And will probably be the only other pairing of that variety within this story besides Harry. This will not be the kind of slash story where suddenly everyone is gay).**

**But really this story isn't written to be one great romance, though it will have its moments. As long as you don't mind the Harry and Voldemort dynamic to varying extents, most other pairings will be mentioned but probably not seen in too much detail, so if you don't love a pairing you should be able to ignore it and tell yourself that right after my story ends they break up or you could review and try to talk me out of something I've just mentioned. Nothing is set in stone yet… Or you can stop reading if you really want to, but I'd be a little sad.**

**I'm pretty sure I took 'princeling' from another fic, but I like it. So I'm using it. So yeah. Sorry. I hope that's okay. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. It is an endearment anyway and not an entire plot or original character, so hopefully I won't face the wrath of all of fanfiction for it or something. But if for some reason someone is highly offended by this just tell me and I'll happily remove it.  
**

**And I really just can't remember exactly when Harry found the diary, if it was before or after the holidays. Or maybe it was during them. It was probably afterwards. Oh well…. But it doesn't matter. I think actually most of the things that are happening in my version of second year aren't happening/going to happen at exactly the right time. Well, it is my version after all. And I already fact check so much, just give me this.**

**So sorry about the ridiculously long A/N. I promise to never write one this long ever again. But there kept being things that I wanted to address. I always have this ridiculous feeling that I need to explain myself when I really probably don't.**

**Up Next: Okay, it's finally happening: Tom Riddle. Well, at least in diary form.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Harry made his way up to the library and sat himself down in the back corner of the library near the more complicated arithmancy books were lined up on the shelves, an area that would be left untouched until a few NEWT level students would clean it out right before their exams. Harry would be left alone there. _Plus, arithmancy was not remotely dark and no one could start a rumor about me training to be Lord Voldemorts apprentice by sitting near the arithmancy books_, Harry thought bitterly. But people would still see him here. If he were in his classroom, surely everyone would think he was out in the Forbidden forest with a snake practicing dark magic while some giant spiders or something cheered him on.

And granted, Harry did spend most of his time with a bunch of snakes practicing dark magic, but he wasn't practicing it to hurt anyone. The idea that everyone thought that Harry would ever truly want to hurt anyone bothered him. Harry had wanted to be viewed as powerful, someone that shouldn't be messed with. But he had never really wanted to hurt anyone.

But yet, he had. He had killed Quirrell after all. But Quirrell had insulted him; Quirrell was going to kill Harry because he was some pathetic first year who had interfered in his plans. And when that happened, Harry had snapped. Harry was worth more than that, he was not going to pushed around, be underestimated anymore. He had not been working so hard all his life, spent the time all the other kids spent playing exploding snaps training in secret to die that night because someone thought that he wasn't worth anything because he was a powerless first year, because as far as first years went, he was particularly unassuming.

Harry shook his head in frustration. He knew where his mind was going and he didn't want to think about it anymore. He had told himself so many times that he couldn't dwell on those things anymore. Nothing would matter if he didn't keep moving forward.

Harry opened his school bag and decided to turn his attention back to the diary he had found in the girls bathroom. Harry opened it once again and flipped through, examining each page carefully. There was no writing anywhere, but Harry knew that the diary had to contain something. He could feel it.

Harry took out a quill and began to write.

_My name is Harry Potter._

Harry carefully scrawled on the crisp page of the diary. Harry couldn't help but gasp as ink began to appear on the page under his introduction.

_My name is Tom Riddle._

Harry gasped again. He knew that name. Not many people knew that name, but Harry knew that name. Dumbledore had used it over the summer at an Order meeting during a particularly passionate speech about how Tom Riddle would finally have to face trial for the crimes he had committed. Of course, at this point the trial was more metaphorical, as Voldemort would fight to the death before relinquishing his power. But when Dumbledore revealed something about Harry's past, he was fascinated, and he had asked Dumbledore to tell him more about Voldemorts past. Of course Dumbledore didn't tell Harry more than that Tom Riddle had gone to Hogwarts, but that was already more information on the wizard than most people knew

For some reason, the information of Voldemorts past, that he went to Hogwarts and that he was once human and has not always been some sort of infallible god as the Dark Lord would like everyone to believe was a heavily guarded secret. The name Tom Riddle appeared in very few books, and those that it did appear in were kept in the ministry's library and not available to the general public, as had been explained to Harry by Dumbledore when he asked him why this piece of information was not known.

Apparently, those with allegiance to Voldemort that have power within the ministry have worked hard since the Dark Lord became anyone noteworthy to keep any information about his past out of books. Authors who tried to write books on Voldemort often abandoned their projects or turned up dead. Those books that did manage to get to publication with the name Tom Riddle in them were buried. Anyone that new the name Tom Riddle rarely felt the need to share it, out of fear that they would be violently silenced and did not see a point to sharing the name anyway. Voldemort was Voldemort now, not Tom Riddle, and Voldemort's past hardly seemed to matter at this point in the war.

_Hello Tom, what are you doing in a diary?_

_ I'm a memory._

Harry got an idea then, as this was clearly too good of an opportunity to pass up. When else was he going to get audience with Voldemort, even if this was only a piece of the Dark Lords former self?

_What can you tell me about the Chamber of Secrets?_

Harry wrote carefully. There was hardly any more information on the chamber of secrets than there was on who Tom Riddle was. All Harry knew was that it had been opened about fifty years ago and a girl had died. But if the estimation as to Voldemorts age was right and Harry was doing the subtraction correctly, Tom Riddle must of had something to do with its first opening.

_I cannot tell you what I know about the Chamber_. The writing stopped, and Harry began to plan his wording to try to get Tom to confess. However, before he could put quill to page, words appeared again.

_But I can show you._

Harry seemed to be sucked into the diary found himself inside what appeared to be Hogwarts, except everything had a strange vintage tinge to it. He figured it was all part of Voldemort's love for theatrics, and not that fifty years ago the world was actually seen in sepia.

In what Harry had decided was a memory, he was watched as the body of the girl who died was taken out of the chamber and a younger version of the gigantic hairy groundskeeper that Harry usually avoided, Hagrid, was blamed for her death. But one look at the solemnly smirking Tom Riddle as he accused Hagrid, Harry thought that only a moron couldn't see that clearly the future dark lord had committed the crime, not the gentle giant with an affinity for large and toothy magical creatures.

Harry came out of the memory that Tom showed him and digested the information that he had just been presented with. None of it was very helpful.

_Where is the chamber?_

_Why would I tell you when I've already gotten someone else to do my bidding?_

_They clearly aren't serving you anymore_.

_They've done enough for now. They will come back to me anyway._

_ How would you know?_

_ I know all about them. They've told me everything. They've even told me about you. Harry._

_ What have they told you about me?_

_ I promised them that I would keep their secrets._

_ As if you've ever kept a promise._

_ I think I've already told you more than enough, Harry._

_ Tom. _Harry tried to make a plea, but the writing on the page vanished and Harry was left staring at the crisp, white, parchment of the diary which showed no traces of the conversation that he had just had.

Sighing, Harry sat back to think about the information that he had just been given.

Harry now knew that Voldemort had opened the Chamber the first time and had now opened it again, however this time with the help of someone else. That someone else had to be easily impressionable, Harry deduced. They had to be someone who trusted easily and would be willing to write their secrets down in a diary. So that narrowed it down the virtually every girl at Hogwarts and most of the Hufflepuff and probably a few Gryffindor boys, Harry decided and sighed as he realized he was probably no closer to stopping that attacks and keeping the students at Hogwarts safe.

Harry continued to think, desperately trying to make sense of the mystery.

_A Slytherin would probably make the most sense. Voldemort would be most willing to trust a Slytherin._ _However, if opening the chamber was dangerous, he probably wouldn't want to risk a pureblood_. Harry knew that the girl who had died last time was muggle-born. Opening the chamber was clearly an attack on muggle-borns.

Would Voldemort appreciate the irony of a muggle born opening the chamber to kill their own 'kind'? Probably. That seemed like a very Voldemort thing to do, if any of the things that he had read or heard about Voldemort were true.

Things were coming together in Harry's mind and it was all beginning to make sense.

This was obviously Voldemort's first big play in a long time, his first big poke at the sanctity of Hogwarts and blatant attack on muggle-borns. This was actually rather huge, and the second The Daily Prophet put together if Voldemort succeeded in attacking a student, it would be front page news.

However, there were still some big pieces missing that put a damper on their newspaper article, none the less the ability for the students of Hogwarts to be kept safe. The first big mystery was who had Tom gotten to open the chamber for him. But more importantly there was the great unknown as to what exactly had been let out of the chamber that would kill people. There had not been another attack since Mrs. Norris had been paralyzed, and while that was a good thing, it was hard to determine the nature or her attacker.

Harry tried to wrack his brain for some sort of creature that paralyzed people. Although magical creatures were not Harry's favorite topic, he read several books on them. And he could not remember reading about a single one that paralyzed things. None the less would go after a cat along with being able to be sent specifically after muggle-borns.

Harry knew he would have to start spending more time in the library trying to identify the creature, which was not something he looked forward too.

But Harry was not too worried about the hunt for determining the species of the creature. He already knew several very important things about the creature. First that it paralyzed people and that it probably had to have a rather long lifespan to live in the chamber for fifty years between attacks. There could not be too many creature out there that lived for such a long time and had the ability to paralyze and kill people. But really, neither of those were the most important bits of information Harry had about the creature anyway.

Harry could hear the creature when no one else could. Which meant the creature must have been some sort of snake.

Harry grinned. Harry could not imagine spending more than an hour in the restricted section to uncover the mystery.

Harry put the diary back into his bag and began to make his way back to the dungeons. The mystery could wait for now. Harry was tired and he had to go make sure that the snakes he had left on his bed had not killed each other over the course of the past few hours.

* * *

Just as Harry had begun to think that the whispers accusing him of being the heir of Slytherin every time he came into the great hall could not get any louder, they were suddenly silenced.

After Colin Creevy had been paralyzed, followed by Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick, Harry thought that some hero Gryffindor was going to try to attack Harry to try to prevent anyone else from being hurt. Harry was sure that the only thing that stopped them was that the only Gryffindor Harry could think of who would want to lead that kind of initiative was Ron, who thankfully had believed Harry when he had assured the boy that it wasn't him opening the Chamber. It also helped that all of the other non Slytherin houses, while being terrified of him because of the power he had shown, had thoroughly enjoyed seeing the much hated potions master nearly strangled.

However, all of the whispers stopped when the much loved grounds keeper Hagrid had been arrested in regard to his previous connection to the opening of the Chamber of Secrets. Most of the Gryffindors felt a deep sense of betrayal, and Harry had quickly been forgotten in the intense emotion of it all.

Although Hagrid was not Harry's favorite person, the large oaf meant well and wore his heart on his sleeve. And while that made him a bit to overbearing for Harry's tastes; Harry knew the man was innocent and he certainly did not deserve to be sent to Azkaban.

But what upset Harry the most was not that the man was falsely accused, or even the fact that the man's arrest despite Dumbledore's statements as to the man's innocence showed how much power Voldemort had over the ministry, but that everyone, with the exception of Ron, Hermione, and Neville, all of who Harry had decided to clue into Hagrid innocence and Voldemorts connection, although refusing to admit how he knew, seemed so ready to believe that the kind hearted oaf had released the monster from the chamber.

Everyone had claimed that because Hagrid had had his wand snapped at the last opening, as had become a well known fact after the arrest, Hagrid must have been harboring contempt towards Hogwarts for all these years. They had all decided that he could not live like a muggle any longer, and that not having his wand had become so unbearable that he had snapped and attacked Hogwarts once again in revenge.

No one seemed to care that Hagrid most certainly did not have any Slytherin blood in him and could not open the chamber of Salazar Slytherin. They all seemed perfectly willing to rationalize that Hagrid did have an affinity for dangerous creatures, and so it would make sense that Hagrid had lost control of one so many years ago, even if perhaps by accident, and was now getting his revenge against those who had taken away his magic, who had reduced him to nothing more than a powerless servant of Dumbledore who lived in squalor on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest.

But there was one bit of light in the darkness, at least from Harry's point of view.

Harry had figured out what the creature was.

Although perhaps that wasn't a very bright light after all.

It had taken Harry longer than he had expected it to and he had lost some time in a particularly social Christmas holiday, but Harry had figured out the identity of the creature, and had felt rather stupid for not figuring it out sooner.

After realizing exactly what the creature was he spent time researching it. He had even tried responding to it when he heard it whispering one day. But no matter what Harry tried to do, he could not seem to do anything productive towards stopping the creature from continuing his attacks.

So it a last-ditch effort, Harry had decided to do something that he hated doing: He asked for help.

Harry called Ron, Hermione, Neville, Draco, Oliver Wood, and Roger Davies into his classroom one raining Sunday afternoon in late February. After realizing what the creature was, and realizing that Dumbledore probably knew but hadn't managed to do anything about it, Harry had taken it upon himself to protect the student body, but he had finally admitted that he did not know how to on his own. So he called upon everyone he knew that might be willing to listen to him, and that might be willing to help.

He almost wished he hadn't of figured out what the creature was so he didn't have to sate his conscious by doing what he was about to do.

"As you are very much aware, something has been attacking Hogwarts student. There have been some rumors that I may be responsible for this creature based off of my Parseltongue abilities. There are other ministry sponsored rumors that Hagrid is responsible for the opening of the chamber. Both of these rumors are just that: Rumors." Harry said as he looked around at the small crowd that he had summoned.

"Over the past several months I have searched, trying to uncover the mysteries of these events, and I believe that I have finally come across most of an answer. I have called you hear so we can work to protect the students of Hogwarts from the creature that has been released. I believe Dumbledore is aware of the identity of the creature, but has taken his own plan of action against it, one that involves secrecy as to the threat that Hogwarts and its students are facing. While I do not know exactly what our headmaster has in mind, it does not seem to be enough to keep the students of Hogwarts safe, particularly with the recent attacks.

"So I am here to tell you what I know. The creature that was released from the chamber has is a Basilisk. I believe that the chamber was opened by a student who has been being controlled by a diary that has been cursed in some way. The diary belongs to Voldemort and the opening of the chamber is a very clever attack on Hogwarts by Voldemort. Whoever he has been controlling is still very much under his control." Harry stated, with a rare level of concern in his voice that others hardly got to hear.

Just as Tom had claimed, the diary had gone missing shortly after Christmas, and Harry assumed that it had been stolen back by its previous owner. Although Harry did wish he had gotten another opportunity to try to talk to Tom, partially out of his own curiosity and partially to make a further inquiry as to the location of the chamber. However, Harry had gotten enough information for now and had been more concerned that the diary owner was back under Tom's control and was causing attacks again, not that the diary had left his possession.

"I also believe that it was also Voldemort who opened the chamber the first time and framed Hagrid because of some sort of dangerous creature that Hagrid was keeping as a pet at the time.

"And so, I'm enlisting your help. We need to be on the lookout for any student who is in possession of an old looking diary and/or has been behaving unusually. We also need to warn students, particularly the muggle-born ones to the threat that they face, as I believe that is the Basilisks target. Encourage them to travel in groups, not leave their dorms, the great hall, or the library when outside of classes if they can help it as much as possible. It would also be advisable that students carry mirrors in the situation that they happen to end up alone in the hallways, so they can look around corners.

"The reason why the Basilisk has not succeeded in killing yet is because no one has looked straight at it. Mrs. Norris saw its reflection in a puddle, Creevy saw it through his camera, and Justin saw it through Nick, and Nick is already dead and could not die again. This way, if a student does have a run in with a Basilisk they can be cured from the paralysis that will plague them, but they will not die." Harry concluded and looked around at the solemn faces in front of him.

"Shouldn't you tell a teacher then? Tell McGonagall or someone." Oliver sputtered after a moment, clearly still trying to process the information.

"Dumbledore already knows the extent of the situation and has not taken any recognizable action. If you would like to tell McGonagall you are welcome to. However, unfortunately this is the kind of situation that adults seem to like to tell students that it is not their responsibility to be concerned about such issues. So while McGonagall may take this information to the light and try pestering Dumbledore into taking greater action, Dumbledore will ensure everyone that whatever he is doing to resolve the issue is for the best and nothing will change until someone has died." Harry explained, stating his usual rationalization as to why he didn't really trust Dumbledore or adults in general.

"But Harry, I'm sure if you explained," Hermione tried, but Harry cut her off.

"No Hermione, I'm not sure. But that is why you are here. If you feel that telling professors will help, then fine. You're welcome to try. Maybe I'm wrong and Dumbledore wasn't able to figure out what a twelve year old was. Maybe in the past day since the last time I've heard the Basilisk he has gotten rid of the creature. But I don't believe that.

"And so in the case that a better solution does not arise, I need your help in trying to keep everyone safe. So are you willing to help?"

"I'm going to talk to McGonagall first." Oliver stated resolutely.

"Fine." Harry snapped in frustration. "But after you've done that will you try to spread the word about the threat?"

"But won't students write home to their parents and have their parents pull them out of school, particularly any muggle-born ones whose parents understand the that their children are being threatened?" Hermione asked.

"All for the better." Draco muttered.

"Draco, don't make me regret asking you here." Harry stated as he sent the other Slytherin a glare. Although the Basilisk has been ordered by Voldemort to target muggle-borns doesn't mean that even a pureblood could accidently look the basilisk in the eyes. And if your allegiance to your dark lord is too strong or you are too afraid to interfere with his plans, you do not have to do anything. You can tell your father, tell your dark lord directly for all I are, that someone, that I'm, that Dumbledore, is on to his plans. But I was under the impression that you wished to be the kind of person that I would allow to be privy to this kind of information. If that has changed feel free to leave." Harry finished coldly, watching as Draco to momentarily dawn an expression of shame that very few people would have thought a Malfoy possible of wearing, before he turned to Hermione to answer her question.

"It's a possibility. But since no one seems to be interested in evacuating the school, as should be done, it's all for the better. We can quietly tell teachers and hope that the situation resolves itself, or we can make everyone know exactly the extent of the threat being posed so we can keep everyone safe. We need to make sure everyone knows the dangers they face. It's the only way. No one is going to die if I have anything to say about it. Not at the hands of Voldemort, no matter how indirectly. Not if I can do anything to prevent it."

"When did you decide to become the hero instead of the villain? You should have been in Gryffindor." Ron mumbled. Harry sighed and pursed his lips. He saw Neville grinning slightly out of the corner of his eyes at Ron's comment.

"I was never the villain. But I'm still not the hero. People have already died because of my choices, and I'm not going to be responsible for anyone else's death, not matter how inadvertently."

Everyone gaped at Harry's admission, Ron, Hermione and Draco especially. Although the two older boys seemed curiously horrified, they had no clue what Harry was talking about. Harry's presence in the stone's chamber was heavily guarded secret, and outside from the order, the only people who had any clue about Harry's potential involvement in the chamber were the Weasley children, Hermione, Neville, and Draco. However, they had all decided that Harry probably made his way into the chamber but found the Quirrell dead or was quickly rescued by Dumbledore.

And although they all really knew that it was a distinct possibility that Harry might have had a hand in the professor's death, none of them had really wanted to admit it. Harry was already scary enough sometimes with his power and general cold attitude, but knowing that Harry had actually killed, at eleven years old none the less, was too much for any of them.

Harry looked at Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Draco. Neville didn't actually look too surprised or horrified, but Harry didn't find that too surprising. Harry and Neville had reached an understanding years ago, and although you wouldn't know it from their relationship, Neville understood Harry and knew him better than anyone else.

However, Ron and Hermione looked truly horrified and Draco had an odd expression on his face, one that Harry imagined would resemble the face of a muggle who just struck gold, but instantaneously had their pick axe taken from them and was about to be struck with it.

"So have we reached an understanding?" Harry asked and everyone eventually began to slowly nod without further comment.

"Good. If you uncover any information that you feel is pertinent to the safety of Hogwarts, feel free to tell me. Otherwise I'll see you all around." Harry said before he turned and exited his classroom, leaving his not friends behind to try to sort through all of the information that they had been given.

_Well, at least I've probably re-instilled some fear of me into them again_. Harry thought as he made his way down to the dungeons.

* * *

**A/N: You did get to see Tom, finally. Sorry if it wasn't terribly exciting. This chapter as a whole wasn't my most exciting, and I know it. But it's all important, and I've dropped a lot of hints as to Harry's motivations in this chapter. **

**Anyway, I think I've made up my mind. Harry and Voldemort's relationship will not go beyond mentor. My Harry will actually probably end up being pretty asexual within this story. Lots of different characters may develop varying degrees of feelings for him, but Harry will really not care or be completely oblivious to it. Those kinds of things aren't important to Harry, and there are several reasons why, some of which have already been revealed to varying extents and some of which have not yet. And as far as fanfiction goes, an unpaired Harry is a little on the less common side (not that even that hasn't been done plenty) so I think it would be interesting to explore a little bit. Plus, the story will end before Harry turns 18… so even if he is not paired within my story doesn't mean he never falls in love and it doesn't mean that Harry will be a sociopath who never feels anything.  
**

**Korolo: I was planning on just putting Lupin with Tonks, because that is like the only canon pairing that doesn't kind of suck, in my eyes anyway. But I've never thought about Snape and Lupin, so I'll consider it. I think it could be interesting as they both are such damaged characters and they could probably relate really well to each other. And I could put Tonks with Bill or Charlie or someone as an aside and everyone will be perfectly happy. (And don't worry about that review. Perhaps if it made more sense or was better written I might have cared, but that bizarre excuse for an insult that didn't even really apply to my story or my life didn't get under my skin.) And you're just fine with all the reviews by the way. I really appreciate them, and clearly I talk so much that I'd be a hypocrite to judge you :)**

**So much for not having long A/N's. After this really, I swear, no more.**

**Oh, I almost forgot...**

**Up Next: Chamber stuff, if it wasn't obvious enough. There are only two chapters left this year, so that stuff is all about to go down.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Draco had all of the Slytherin's travelling in packs (more so than they usually did), carrying mirrors within a week. Even the ones that insisted the Basilisk would never harm a pureblood seemed a bit more wary and were caught studying blinding charms. Unfortunately for the rest of the houses, after Harry had left, Oliver had decided that he was going to tell McGonagall and see her response to the information about the basilisk in order to confirm Harry's suspicions before worrying the other students with something that they may not have to worry about at all.

McGonagall had apparently reassured Oliver that she would bring the issue up with the headmaster, but trusted that he had made the best decisions regarding whatever was attacking the students. And Oliver had apparently talked the rest of the students Harry had decided to grace with the information of the threat to Hogwarts and had talked them out of telling any of the other students. Wood was sure that he had made the right choice for the next month when life seemed to return almost completely back to normal and tensions dropped as another attack did not occur.

However, the peace that was found only managed to last about a week before it was abruptly taken away.

As finals season was rapidly approaching, Hermione had been coming back late from the library when she was attacked. She was found the next morning petrified, holding a hand mirror just as Harry had advised her to. Harry's warning was quite possibly the only thing that had saved her life.

But Harry did not care that he had saved her life when someone else who hadn't been given Harry's warning could have been just as easily been killed.

To say that Harry was furious was a bit of an understatement.

Harry was done with working with other people; he was done with trying to do this quietly and politely. It was only a miracle that someone hadn't been killed yet.

The night following Hermione's attack at dinner Dumbledore stood to make an announcement.

"Here at Hogwarts, we prize our student's safety." Dumbledore began and Harry, and most of the Slytherin table who were aware of the Basilisk, scoffed. While Harry was glad that the Slytherins were safe, most of them had no desire to interfere with Voldemort's plans, and had made sure the information of the Basilisk not gotten out to any of the other houses, much to Harry's dismay.

Dumbledore continued, not noticing, or pretending not to, the knowingly smirking Slytherin table. "I would like to assure all of the students and staff," Harry looked to Professor McGonagall, who was anxiously playing with a napkin as Dumbledore spoke with a worried expression on her face as she looked across the room to Oliver. "That you are all very safe. However, in light of recent events we are going to move the curfew up an hour and have students escorted between their classes by teachers or prefects." Dumbledore concluded.

_Finally_, Harry thought. _But at this point it is not enough._

At this point, Harry didn't doubt that the Basilisk would become less discrete. The end of the year was approaching and a student had yet to be killed. This was not a secret that Dumbledore could keep anymore. And with that Harry muttered the incantation for the spell that he had been working on recently.

Suddenly and with a loud bang, something that resembled fireworks shot into the sky, spelling out a message that hung in the air above the entrance of the great hall for all to see.

_A Basilisk has been released from the chamber and roams the school under order of Voldemort. No one is safe._

For a moment everyone was silent as they all read the message. But then, the great hall erupted into panic. First years were crying, upper years, particularly the prefects, along with some of the teachers ,were in an uproar as to why no one had been made privy to such important information. McGonagall just looked shocked. And everyone whom Harry had told was suddenly looking at him in surprise, clearly not expecting him to make such a move.

The panic around him made Harry uncomfortable. He had made his move, and now it needed to play out. But no one was any safer than they were moments ago and Harry still had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Harry looked up at Dumbledore and saw the man looking right at Harry with a look of faint disappointment. He couldn't deal with this.

Harry quickly got up from the table and made his way out of the great hall, fleeing as fast as he could.

"Harry!" He heard someone call out amidst the panic from behind him as he made his way out of the great hall, but Harry ignored whoever they were.

"Harry!" The voice called again, this time loud and clear as Harry had gotten far enough away from the noise for Harry to recognize who it belonged to. But even with recognizing the voice, Harry didn't care to answer it right now.

"Harry!" He heard a final time he suddenly felt his legs snap together as he fell to the ground. Harry quickly muttered the counter curse, but lay on the ground in defeat. "I've gotten pretty good at nonverbal spells, haven't I?" Draco Malfoy said harshly as he stood over Harry.

"What do you want?" Harry asked tiredly as he pulled himself up from the ground. Draco looked at Harry dumbly, clearly not expecting the dark haired boy's resignation.

"Why'd you do that?" Draco asked after a moment.

"I didn't know what else to do. It's gone too far." Harry said before turning away from Draco and walking away, only to discover Draco walking behind him.

"_Must kill. Master will be disappointed. Must kill_." Harry heard the Basilisk hiss from somewhere within the school and he covered his ears in a fit of frustration. His suspicions had been confirmed, the Basilisk was getting desperate.

"Harry, are you alright?" He heard Draco ask through his hands, which had proven to be rather ineffective at blocking out any noise, including the hisses of the Basilisk. He felt Draco's hand on his arm.

"What's going on?"

Harry pulled himself away from the other boy, and hurried down the hall, hunched over with his hands still covering his ears. He made his way into the Slytherin dormitories and flung open the curtains of his bed, crashing himself into the mattress and flinging his pillow over his head. Two surprised and slightly angry snakes made their way under the pillow.

"_What's wrong, little prince? You nearly crushed me._" Ondula hissed.

"_That blond one is staring at you_." Forshue reported.

"_Tell him to go away_." Harry hissed back.

"_I'd love to but I can't, princeling_." Forshue said as he began to curl himself up above Harry's shoulders.

"_Do I have to do everything myself?_" Harry muttered, still speaking Parseltongue as he closed quickly snapped the curtains shut around his bed.

Harry heard Draco sigh loudly, but didn't care that the other boy wanted to talk to him. He didn't want to talk. He didn't owe Draco an explanation. They were allies, not friends, and Draco did not get to be privy to Harry's psychological troubles.

He didn't want to deal with everything right now. There was nothing more he could do right now, and that was making him sick. With the decision of telling everyone, he had lost control of the situation. There was nothing more that he could do.

He didn't not know where the chamber was, he did not know how to get to the Basilisk, none the less how to kill it. He didn't know who had the journal, he didn't know if he could get them to call off the Basilisk, or if he had to convince Tom to do that. The only thing Harry could do anymore was hope that things would work out in the end.

Only in his mind, his failure to act effectively only seemed to mean that someone was going to die, at least if past experience was anything to go by.

* * *

By the next day nearly half of the muggle-borns and a quarter of the half bloods were being pulled out of school. Harry sat outside in the courtyard in front of the school as hoards of his classmates were escorted down to Hogsmead to take a portkeys back to London where their parents could pick them up.

"How are you doing, Harry?" Lily said as she came to sit beside her son. Hogwarts was now flooded with aurors and order members as they worked with Dumbledore to try to figure out what to do about the Basilisk, and Harry's parents now seemed to be working at Hogwarts around the clock.

"I'm fine." Harry said tersely.

"I'm sorry about what happened to Hermione." His mother said.

"She'll be fine. I was worried about everyone else. She up in the infirmary, someone's closed her eyes; she's probably the safest of us all right now. The mandrakes will be ready soon and if the Basilisk hasn't been found by then she can go straight home." Harry sighed.

"What have you been doing this year, Harry?" Lily asked as she shook her head sadly. Harry knew she wasn't referring to his grades in Transfiguration or his attendance at the most recent Quidditch match and he matched her sad sigh.

"I just didn't want anyone to get hurt." Was the only excuse that Harry could manage to give at this point.

They both sat in silence for a few moments.

"Do you want to help us?" Lily asked as she tilted her head to look at her son.

"You want me to listen for it?" Harry asked, knowing that that was the only way he could probably help at this point.

"Without your ability I don't know how else we could possibly find it. Dumbledore recommended it. I hate having to ask such things of you." She said remorsefully.

Harry sighed again.

"Yeah, sure I'll do it." Harry said as he stood up from the bench.

Harry was glad that his parents didn't seem to hold any sort of grudge against his Parseltongue abilities. When he had come home at Christmas, they of course already knew. But when Harry introduced them to Ondula and Forshue they only seemed slightly frightened, and they didn't seem any more frightened when he sat in the living room on Christmas morning with a snake curled over each shoulder hissing at them, trying to explain to them exactly what a chocolate frog was.

Lily put her arm around her son and led him inside to begin what would ultimately turn out to be a week of listening for a Basilisk.

Classes had continued for the students that remained, but a strict schedule had been worked out where students were escorted from their common rooms in the morning to the great hall, to each of their classes, to the library, and back to their common room at the end of it all. Students even had to get an adult to escort them to use the bathroom.

The only one who was allowed to deviate from the schedule was Harry, who had his own schedule that had him wandering the halls with a team of aurors and, much to Harry's displeasure, Gilderoy Lockhart following behind him.

Lockhart had decided that he was very qualified to fight a Basilisk, perhaps more than any of the trained aurors and the ministry magical creatures specialist that had also been brought in combined. Because apparently some experience with trolls, vampires, werewolves, and banshees all added up to being able to defeat an ancient, giant snake that only needed to look at you to kill you, and could still easily swallow you whole if by sheer luck you managed to blind it. But if someone had to die in this whole ordeal, Harry was kind of hoping that it would be Lockhart.

The Wizarding world was in an uproar once the Prophet had published the news about the Basilisk and the students that had been paralyzed. Harry had found out that this was what Dumbledore had been keeping such secrecy. Apparently, the man was keeping the Basilisk and the attacks a secret, because he didn't want Voldemort to have the satisfaction of knowing that he had succeed. He didn't want to give Voldemort the confidence that knowing he had succeeded at getting inside Hogwarts to given the dark lord the initiative begin to try more stunts like this.

It was very political and very for the greater good perspective and it was very Dumbledore. And rather unfortunately, Harry understood what Dumbledore had been trying to do and felt like an idiot for ruining the great wizard's scheme. He was already beginning to feel the guilt that he knew would only be increased if Voldemort managed to kill anyone within at least the next five years, as it would surely be Harry's fault for boosting the maniac's confidence.

And so, Harry was trying to reduce the guilt that he was already feeling by making sure that he caught the basilisk before it managed to kill anyone. It was just about all that he could do, and at least it was doing something.

* * *

Another week had gone by and still there seemed to be no sign of the Basilisk. Harry was beginning to wonder if whoever had Tom's diary and was commanding the Basilisk was a muggle-born and had been taken home. The school year was nearly over and Harry was beginning to worry what would become of Hogwarts if the Basilisk wasn't found soon.

While on their usual route of the castle, which followed the pipe system, Harry, Lockhart, and the aurors neared the spot where the first attack on Mrs. Norris had occurred. Harry always hated passing this spot. While out of all the attacks that had occurred, Harry cared the least about the cat, that part of the corridor always sent shivers down his spine.

The group walked in silence so Harry could listen for the Basilisk, when suddenly Sirius, who was leading the group stopped dead. Harry bumped into his godfather and bounced off onto the floor. Harry quickly stood up, trying to pretend as if he had not just been so klutzy when he heard several gasps.

"Wha?" Harry asked as he turned to see what everyone was staring at, but was silenced before he even got his full question.

On the wall under where the first message from the first attack was written, another message had been scrawled.

_Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever._

"Someone, go find all the heads of houses and have them make sure everyone that's left has been accounted for." James said quickly, jumping into action as he had been trained to do, and Tonks quickly hurried off to do as told.

"The school will have to be closed. Students are no longer safe here." Kingsley Shaklebolt said solemnly.

"We have to find the chamber; we have to go rescue her, whoever she is!" Sirius said in a desperately passionate manner, typical of the Gryffindor he was.

"We don't know where the chamber is, Padfoot, by the time we find it the girl will probably already be dead, if she is even still alive at this point." James pointed out gravely, resting his hand on his friends shoulder.

"I believe that I may know where the chamber is." Dumbledore said as he appeared with Tonks trailing behind him.

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Moody barked.

"I did not want to go into the chambers unless it was absolutely necessary. The chambers are the Basilisk's domain. I'd hate to give it, as muggles sometimes say, 'home field advantage.' I had hoped to be able to corner it somewhere above ground, where it did not have so much room to run." Dumbledore explained.

"Well then, where is it?" Sirius said eagerly.

Suddenly, Harry gasped and everyone turned to look at him.

"I do believe that Harry knows." Dumbledore said with a sparkle of something that resembled pride returning to his eyes.

Harry had been thinking while the adults had been talking, desperately trying to put together the pieces, when suddenly he had remembered something that Arthur Weasley had said in Diagon alley all of those months ago, about Lucius Malfoy bothering Ginny in Flourish and Blotts.

"Where is Ginny?" Harry asked in panic.

Suddenly it all made sense to him.

"Ginny, Ginny Weasley?" James asked, looking between his son and a slightly less twinkly Dumbledore, who apparently was not expecting Harry to know as much as he did.

"Yes! Ginny! She's in the chamber. I think we still have time though, she might still be alive. I have to get to the chambers now though." Harry cried as he took off, rushing down to the first floor girls bathroom.

"Harry!" He heard someone call after him, but Harry didn't care. He heard heavy footsteps behind him as aurors began to follow after him. Harry made his way into the bathroom.

"Harry Potter!" Myrtle cried as she saw Harry enter her bathroom. "Have you come to visit me?"

Harry ignored the ghost.

"And you've brought friends!" Myrtle cried giddily as the aurors and Gilderoy Lockhart appeared behind Harry in the bathroom.

"Harry," James got out in between pants.

Harry ignored his father and turned to the sink that was decorated with snakes.

_It really couldn't have been more obvious couldn't it?_ Harry mentally kicked himself as he realized how this great mystery was really hardly a mystery at all, just a lack of proper observance of the facts presented.

"_Open!_" Harry hissed as the sinks began to move slowly as the various snakes the decorated the sink coiled away, revealing a whole in the bathrooms floor. The adults stepped back in awe of Harry's Parseltongue and the chamber.

Without giving it another thought Harry jumped down the whole.

"Well who's going then?" Harry heard Sirius say as he slid down the pipes that led into the chamber.

"I shall go." He heard an arrogant voice echo above.

_Oh, no you're not._ Harry thought.

"_Close!" _Harry called out as he tumbled out of the pipe and onto the skeleton covered ground. Harry stood up, rat bones crunching underneath him, as Sirius followed by Gilderoy Lockhart tumbled into the chamber behind him.

_Great._ Harry thought as he saw the inadequate professor had made it into the chambers before he had closed it.

Harry hadn't particularly wanted anyone coming into the chamber with him. He didn't want anyone to die and he couldn't see the advantage to having help this time. Harry had as good a chance as defeating the basilisk as any other aurors, perhaps even better because he could speak Parseltongue.

Harry looked at the two men as they both stood up, picking rodent bones from their clothing. Lockhart looked as if he had forgotten what he had just committed to and Sirius looked angrily at Harry.

"Open the chamber back up, Harry." Sirius ordered his godson.

"No. I don't want anyone else to get hurt." Harry huffed stubbornly, sounding rather childish.

"Oh, you silly boy, no one is going to get hurt. Well, at least I'm not." Harry and Sirius both turned to look at Lockhart, who had a mad look in his eye as he raised his wand.

"Lockhart, what the hell are you doing?" Sirius cried.

"I'm making my mark on the world once and for all. You see, someone's found out my secret. They've found out that I've never actually met a vampire or a troll, that I've only been stealing the work and obliviating that memories of people who have. For months now they've been blackmailing me, threatening to tell the Prophet. But after tonight, none of that will matter. No one will care that I've never previously met a monster after I defeat a Basilisk." Lockhart explained.

"And how exactly are you planning on defeating the Basilisk?" Sirius growled as he pointed his wand at the professor.

"_I _don't. Stupefy!" Lockhart called. Caught slightly off guard by the attack, not actually expecting Lockhart to act, Sirius was hit by the charm and flew backwards into a wall before slumping against the wall unconscious.

"And now for you, Mr. Potter. Imperio!" Lockhart called as he threw the unforgivable at Harry. Harry, still a little stunned by his godfathers attack, didn't have time to try to step out of the way.

Harry felt the curse wash over him and struggled against it. He knew that it was possible to beat the imperius curse, but he had never had the opportunity to practice trying to do so before.

"Now, Mr. Potter, you are going to go into the chamber and you're going to do your very best to kill the basilisk. You will either return here having killed the creature or you will not return at all." Lockhart said as Harry felt himself being tugged into the chamber with the orders, his feet stepping out from under him as he began to walk further into the chambers.

"No." Harry said firmly.

"You do not have choice, Mr. Potter. Now go on. The faster the Basilisk is defeated, the more impressive it makes me look."

"I said no." Harry growled as his magic began to swirl around him.

Holding out his hands, Harry pushed all his magic at the professor, and a stream of yellow light flew at him, blasting the man into a wall. As Lockhart slammed into the wall, the entire castle seemed to shake and rocks poured down from the ceiling, separating Harry and Lockhart from Sirius.

Harry walked over to Lockhart and picked up the man's wand, turning the professors own wand on him.

"You're head has always been a little too big, Lockhart." Harry murmured and Lockhart's head began to shrink. "There, that's better." Harry said Lockhart's head was now about the size of an orange. Harry then snapped the man's wand in half.

"Good luck finding someone who is willing to perform the counter curse. I doubt anyone will bother to get it back to normal before you're sent to Azkaban for attacking an auror and performing an unforgivable on a child." Harry said with a dark smirk as he stared down at his professor, who looked back at him groggily through pea sized eyes.

"Harry!" He heard a voice call faintly.

Harry walked over to the rock barricade that separated himself from his godfather.

"Sirius?" Harry asked, looking through a small hole in the rocks.

"Harry, where are you? Are you okay?" Sirius called and Harry saw him come into view, rubbing his back as he stiffly walked over to the hole that Harry was speaking through.

"I'm fine, Sirius. I'm going to go save Ginny. If you could start trying to dig out some of the rocks that would be great." Harry said casually as he turned away from his godfather, whose face had appeared in the hole, and started walking towards the pipes that Harry assumed would lead to the main chamber.

"Harry! No, you can't leave here. Wait for me to," Sirius began to plead, but Harry cut him off.

"No. There is an eleven year old girl dying somewhere down here and she might not have much time left, if she has any. I'm not going to let her die because you have some idea about childhood innocence or weakness or something floating around in your head. I can handle this just as well as anyone else and I'm not going to let a Ginny die because in your mind the outcome of this will not be that two children come out of the chamber alive, but that two will die instead of only one. I'll be fine." Harry snapped before turning and walking down the pipe.

"Harry!" Sirius called after him and heard the stones be blasted out of they way. Harry looked back for a moment to see that more stones had merely fallen from above to take their place. Harry looked back ahead and walked on.

He could now only hope that the last thing he ever said to his godfather wasn't going to be a lie.

* * *

**Up Next: TOM RIDDLE in the sort of flesh in the final chapter of Harry's second year!**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Harry walked down the pipe, trying to formulate some sort of plan of attack. But honestly, he couldn't come up with one. It was like his brain had short circuited recently and he couldn't think right anymore.

_I'll just have to wing it, then._ Harry thought as what he assumed was the notorious chamber of secrets came into view as the tunnel ended.

It looked just as he expected a chamber created by Salazar Slytherin to look. It was dark, damp, ancient looking, and lined with large, menacing looking stone snakes. At the far end of the chamber Harry noticed a body of a girl lying on the cold, wet stone ground. Harry felt his heart stop for a second before he ran down the chamber to the girl's body. He knelt down besides that girl rolled over the body to see Ginny's face and let out the breath that he had been holding. Tom Riddles diary fell from her arms as she lay limp on the floor.

"You must be Harry Potter." A voice said from behind him. Harry looked away to see a dark haired boy that looked to be a few years older than him.

"Tom?" Harry asked, eying the future dark lord.

"None other." Tom paused to give Harry a charismatic but fake smile. "You look confused. Could I enlighten you on something?" Tom said haughtily as he circled around Harry and Ginny. Harry stood up to face the older boy.

"There are a lot of things that need enlightening. But no, actually, I just was expecting someone a little more frightening. Not some Slytherin pretty boy." Harry said matter-of-factly as he smirked and watched Tom's face twist in anger for a moment before it quickly returned its dark but innocent mask.

"I think you underestimate Slytherin pretty boys then." Tom spat.

"Then how about that enlightening?" Harry raised an eyebrow and smirked, forgetting about everything else that had been distracting him recently as his wit seemed to return just when he needed it most.

"I've been nothing more than a memory and I've managed to wreck havoc on your precious little school. It wasn't even hard, for one." Tom drawled sardonically. "All I had to do was make sure that my diary was given to a Hogwarts student, hardly even mattered which one. But Ginny here proved to be a particularly easy target. The poor, poor girl, feeling so lost and alone as she started her first year of Hogwarts in the shadow of her siblings, not to mention you, Harry Potter." He said sighed wistfully, with a darkly false sense of pity in his voice. He continued with the same eerie tone.

"You've made quite an impression on little Ginny here, Harry. She's told me so much about you, about all the things that you can do. About how powerful you are. She seemed to be terrified of you Harry. Isn't that funny, how she was more afraid of you then she was of me? She was so afraid that you would read the things she wrote about you and would be offended and would harm her, drove her right back to me. The stupid girl of course never imagined that I was the one harming her while you were trying to save her." He shrugged and smirked as he began to circle Harry again.

"Ginny did everything I told her to; even when she knew that she was hurting people. Even when she tried to get rid of me, she couldn't stay away for long and stole me back from you. She was too afraid that you might find out her secrets. Apparently she didn't trust me enough to keep them for her. I guess she did have every right not to trust me though. But I do almost wish that you had kept me and written to me more. You have so much more power to feed off of. She is nearly dead and I'm barely alive. I knew she was a poor little blood traitor, but I figured at least a pureblood would have more power in her. Her dying will apparently not even be a waste though. Clearly was never destined to do great things, Harry. Not like you and I were. If I had you, I could probably have returned to my human form and you still would have been powerful enough to make a nice little servant. I could have done great things with you at my side." Tom explained to Harry, his voice still with that eerily wistful tone.

"Well I guess that's just too bad then." Harry shrugged. "But could you explain to me something Tom?" Harry asked.

"Perhaps," The younger Voldemort responded as he shrugged dismissively.

"Why is Voldemort bringing you back? I understand the attacks, but I don't understand why you are alive again. From what I've heard, Voldemort doesn't particularly like having competition, or equals for that matter, which I assume you would want to be to the older version of yourself."

"Well of course, Voldemort doesn't want a young Tom Riddle back. But the older me has lost his touch recently. He's stopped taking action and has been waiting, he's been looking for something now and it's been far too long now that he's been doing so. He sent me here to take action; so really, I am only doing what he wished. But it's been fifty years since I last roamed the halls of this school and there are still mudbloods at Hogwarts. I've grown tired of waiting." Tom resolved as his eyes seemed to grow even darker. "Oh, but Harry? You've appeared to have forgotten something."

"Oh?" Harry asked.

"Yes, aren't you here to play hero, Harry? Aren't you here to save the girl? I've been looking forward to seeing you in action."

"I'm not a bloody hero." Harry growled, tired of the term.

"Oh, then what are you?"

"I'm an avenger." Harry said resolutely. If he had seen the date on the front of the comic books that Dudley had apparently insisted upon getting after some American showed up at his school and wouldn't stop bragging about his collection, not that Dudley cared for the 'freaky' super heroes or read anything, no matter how many pictures there were, correctly a few summers ago, Tom would have no chance of knowing that his chosen title would conjure up images of grown men in tights in the heads of muggles everywhere and probably take his proclamation rather seriously.

"Oh, I see, well then we are quite similar then aren't we?"

"Who are you avenging?" Harry asked indignantly.

"Every wizard who has ever been made to feel worthless at the hand of a muggle." Tom said enigmatically. "Who do you feel the need to avenge?"

"Every muggle that's ever been made to feel worthless at the hand of a wizard." Harry responded and smirked as Tom almost seemed to look surprised at Harry's response.

"Well, I guess that makes us enemies then." Tom said pensively.

"I guess so." Harry sighed.

Tom then turned away from Harry to face the back wall of the chamber, which had a giant statue of a snake against it.

"_I have a present for you, my beautiful._" Tom called out and Harry closed his eyes as he felt something within the chamber move, he had been stalling in hopes of thinking of some way to avoid this.

"Don't bother trying to talk to her, Harry. She only obeys my orders." Harry heard Tom call over to him.

Harry listened for the slithering sound of the basilisk, but instead head footsteps.

"Harry!" He heard someone call.

Harry turned to see Sirius, followed by James, Kingsley, Moody, and Tonks. How Sirius ever managed to become an auror Harry had yet to figure out. Harry had always assumed it took a certain level of discretion that Sirius lacked. Running into a chamber with a deadly magical creature and a future dark lord an announcing your presence was hopefully not the protocol that was taught in auror training.

"Turn around and run!" Harry yelled angrily, as he heard the surprisingly delicate but still present slithering sound of the basilisk behind him.

"_He brought you more friends for you, beautiful._" Tom hissed as the creature and Harry began to run towards the other side of the chamber.

Just then a majestic fire colored bird flew into the chambers, and Harry paused for a moment to look at it. Harry recognized it as Dumbledore's phoenix, the one he had seen sitting in Dumbledore's office the last time he had been up there.

_What is that bloody bird doing here?_ Harry thought in exasperation.

He quickly decided that he didn't care if the bird was going to serve as an appetizer for the Basilisk, and instead he continued to run down chamber towards the aurors, whose eyes were still following the bird.

"Look away, all of you!" Harry cried as he grabbed his father and Sirius by the robe sleeve and dragged them into the nearest pipe, thankfully the other aurors following behind them.

"What do you think you're doing here?" Harry hissed at them.

` "What do you think _you're_ doing here, young man?" James asked angrily.

"Oh, come off it. I was dealing with the situation just fine, thank you very much. How did you get down here?"

"We all took turns trying to imitate you until the chamber opened." Tonks explained.

"Great." Harry muttered. _Very effective job you did there at guarding your chamber, Salazar_. Harry thought bitterly.

"Harry, you couldn't have honestly expected to do this on your own." James said, rather haughtily.

"I," Harry began, but was interrupted by shrieking and hissing coming from back within the chamber.

"What's going on?" Tonks asked, looking back in the direction of the chamber.

"Don't look, you foolish girl. I'm not going to have spent all this time training you to have you die of stupidity." Moody barked as he grabbed onto Tonks to keep her from turning around to look at the basilisk who from the sound of it was greatly distressed.

"I think Fawkes is attacking the basilisk." Kingsley interjected as Tonks huffed in response to Moody.

"Here, I'll look." Harry said, as he picked up a piece of rock that had broken off from the stone pipe and quickly transfigured it into a sword. He felt stupid not having learned how to transfigure a mirror, particularly considering the recent circumstances, but reflective surfaces were challenging and he hadn't prioritized taking the time to perfect it. But as he glimpsed around at the aurors who gaped at him as he wielded the sword, he decided that he didn't mind so much that the sword was actually a weakness on his part, because it apparently didn't look as such.

Harry swished the sword dramatically before holding it still to focus on the scene behind him. He watched Fawkes flew away from the basilisk. Harry looked to the basilisk, and saw that the basilisk's eyes had been clawed out by the phoenix, leaving it blinded.

_For once something connected to Dumbledore proved to be helpful,_ Harry thought, unconsciously raising his eyebrows as he did.

"What?" James asked.

"The phoenix blinded the Basilisk. I don't think it can kill us anymore, at least not that way. And it won't be able to see us anymore, obviously. Basilisks do have pretty good sensory perception though, so I'm sure that it can still hear us, or smell us, or taste us or something."

Harry let the sword fall to his side as he made his way out of the pipe.

"Your ancient mighty basilisk was just had a row with an oversized chicken and lost, Tom. What's your plan now?" Harry taunted as he stood at the end of the chamber opposite from a very angry looking Tom.

"I have almost completely drained the life from the girl, Harry. And my basilisk can still cause you great pain. Perhaps even kill you. But I think I'd prefer to take the pleasure of doing that." Tom jeered.

"Oh, Ginny!" James cried as he looked towards the girl, as if he had somehow managed to completely forget the reason why they were down in the chamber in the first place and suddenly remembered in that moment. He began to make his way towards the girl, seeming to forget about the giant reptile and the future dark lord that were still in his way. Thankfully he did at least have his wand raised defensively.

"Dad, wait!" Harry called, managing to get his father to stop and turn around and look at him before he had gotten more than half way across the chamber.

"Oh this is your father Harry? I do see the resemblance. How interesting." Tom smiled darkly.

"Let's see if I've gotten enough of the blood traitor's magic to do a proper spell yet. I'll still have to use this pathetic excuse for a wand," Tom said as he twirled Ginny's hand me down wand between his fingers. "But I'm sure it will do just fine."

"No." Harry said.

"No? Are you going to fight me, Harry? Come on then." Tom turned Ginny's wand on Harry.

"Harry, get out of here." Sirius said as he raised his wand at Tom.

"No."

"Well, aren't you feeling defiant today?" Tom smirked. "_Kill the rest, but leave the little one to me._" He hissed at the basilisk.

"No!" Harry cried again as the basilisk began to make its way towards him and the aurors.

Before Harry knew what was going on, he was shoved out of the way by Sirius as he jumped into action, firing spells at the basilisk, the others following suit.

Harry watched in horror as the spells seemed bounce of the basilisk. He looked to the far end of the chamber and watched as Tom's smile grew as Harry could literally see the last of Ginny's magic and life beginning to leak out of her.

It was all going horribly wrong and Harry could not be more upset.

Granted, Harry had not had a master plan, even within all the stalling of conversation his plan never really fully formed and just became a few goals: Destroy the diary, kill the Basilisk; both of which had always been his goal anyway, but now he was destroying the diary to kill off Voldemort Junior, not just because it seemed like it was something that needed to be done in the process in order for victory to be achieved.

But now it looked as if Tom Riddle was going to come back to life, and two Hogwarts students along with several prominent aurors were going to be killed. But, it had only taken him ten minutes in the chamber with the aurors, seeing them 'in action' to cause him to completely lose faith in the entire auror department. Harry was beginning to wonder if perhaps Tom succeeded in what he was trying to do here today; it was perhaps because he deserved it. But if Voldemort was going to have a victory, it certainly was not going to be now when Harry had every opportunity to do something about it.

_Enough is enough._

In that moment Harry shoved all of his magic out of himself filling the large chamber. Harry knew that when this was all over, he would be exhausted by trying to extend his magic so far, but he hardly cared in the moment. The room filled with the deep purple fog and the aurors fell to the ground at the pure power as the basilisk reared its head and shrieked.

Harry walked straight up to the basilisk and stood before it. The creature slammed its head hissing down towards Harry mouth open in a high pitched cry as it did so, attempting to destroy the source of magic. Harry quickly raised the sword he had transfigured up over his head and watched as the basilisk impaled itself, and the sword tore through the roof it its mouth and into its skull.

Harry quickly extracted the sword and ducked out of the way as the basilisk fell the chamber floor with a loud thud and lay there unmoving.

"I've had quite enough of you." Harry muttered as he began walking towards the end of the chamber towards the wide eyed Tom, who had succumbed to Harry's magic and fallen to his knees.

"I've had quite enough of you too." Harry said as he picked up the diary from the ground in front of Ginny. He pushed his magic through his palms, coursing he light magic through it as the diary began to smolder as his dark magic thickly surrounded the diary and seemed to suck whatever was left of Tom Riddle out of it.

Harry watched as Tom screamed and seemed to disintegrate in a way similar to the way that Quirrell had been killed last year, light erupting from within his body as he cracked, Ginny's magic flowing back into her body in the process. Unlike Quirrell however, Tom seemed to be blown away in a breeze that Harry could not feel, but only see, leaving not even a pile of ash behind. Harry pulled back his magic and looked at the diary, which was now singed around the edges, but did not even appear to be completely destroyed.

Harry looked around the chamber to find the aurors all lying unconscious on that chamber floor, apparently Harry's magic being too much for them. Harry looked down at Ginny, who was still unconscious, but now appeared to be breathing.

Although Harry desperately wanted to lie down on the ground and fall into unconsciousness like everyone else, Harry did not care to spend another minute in that chamber.

He stuck the diary in his robe pocket and dropped the sword on the ground, not caring about it anymore, and being too tired to transfigure it back. Then, he turned on his heel and shook his head in a mixture of anger and disappointment as he stepped over his godfather's unconscious body on the way out of the chamber.

Harry made his way back to the pipe that led to the bathroom and began climb up the pipe with the aid of a sticky limbs charm, using the last bit of his magic and his energy to do so, hissing for the chamber to open as he reached the top.

The chamber opened and Harry looked out to see Dumbledore, his mother, the Weasley's, and the rest of the order standing there in the bathroom waiting for someone's return.

"Go collect the goddamn bodies. I'm done with this." Harry spat bitterly as he pushed through the crowd to make his way out of the bathroom.

Lily gasped.

"Harry, they're not," She whispered, unable to even say the words.

"No, they're not. But they would have been if it weren't for me. It's about time you recognized that." Harry said before he walked out of the bathroom.

Harry was done with the order, he was done with Dumbledore, and he was done with all of them. No one seemed to trust him. And their concern never seemed to be caused by them not to wanting Harry to be put in dangerous situations; it was just that they didn't believe a twelve year old should be doing the things that Harry did. It hardly even seemed like it was Harry personal that they cared about, more like it was their goal to protect the innocence of twelve year olds everywhere by protecting Harry.

They didn't seem to understand that Harry had stopped caring about age just a few years into his childhood when he had made the decision to grow up much younger than most people could ever imagine. He knew that if he had wanted to be powerful, then he would have to give up his childhood. Although Harry was still only twelve years old and very much a child technically, at seven years old he had stopped being a child. If you did the math from that, Harry really leaving his early twenties, and had more than enough magic and usually enough maturity to match that figure.

While Harry had never expected to be living in his own flat in London working as an unspeakable like an adult would be at the age of twelve, he had expected his parents to figure out once he had shown them the extent of his power that Harry was not exactly a small child. He had given them the benefit of the doubt, assuming that no parent wants their baby to grow up and be put in danger. But it honestly didn't feel like that to Harry. His parents and Sirius' actions and words towards him felt stubborn and prideful, his father and Sirius had not spoken to Harry like a child whose innocence needed to be preserved, but more in the manor of which one talked to Gilderoy Lockhart. Harry only ever wanted their respect, if nothing else, but he could never get them to see him for who he was.

After what had just happened, Harry didn't feel like he was on their side anymore. He had never really felt like he was on the light side, but he had never really wanted to be dark, not agreeing with what Voldemorts ideals. He had tried to play along with the light; he had tried to do what they wanted. But in the end he just felt like Dumbledore's pawn.

He felt used and he hated it.

And he was done with it.

* * *

A few days later, Harry was called to Dumbledore's office.

Everyone had recovered just fine and it seemed as if life at Hogwarts could definitively go back to normal next year without any sort of serious scarring. Harry and the rest of the students and staff who were still at Hogwarts since before Harry went down in the chamber were still staying at school until the end of term, but end of year examinations had been cancelled with the exception of the OWL's and NEWT's.

Dumbledore had wanted to talk to Harry about what had gone on in the chamber, but Harry didn't really care to tell the man in too much detail what . He had summarized what went on, but avoided anything besides the basic facts of what had occurred that evening. Dumbledore seemed to want to get more out of Harry, but thankfully another visitor showed up to talk to Dumbledore, saving Harry from the interrogation.

Lucius Malfoy glided into Dumbledore's office with a flourish and Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes with the unnecessary dramatic flare.

"It sickens me the events that have occurred here at over this school year that you have tried to hide from the public." Malfoy drawled with an almost theatrical sense of passion.

"Good afternoon Lucius, lemon drop?" Dumbledore said pleasantly as he went to take a seat behind his desk.

"Excuse me, headmaster. I really must be going." Harry said as he began to make his way towards the door to the office. As he passed Lucius, he stopped, turning back to face the senior Malfoy.

"Oh, before I leave, Mr. Malfoy, I believe I have something of yours." Harry said as he pulled Tom Riddle's diary out of his robes pocket. "I do not take attacks on innocent children lightly, sir. Make sure your lord is aware of that." He hissed as he handed Lucius the diary. Lucius looked down at him in awe for a moment before reaching out to take the diary.

"I'll make sure he gets the message." Lucius growled so softly that Harry could barely hear him.

_Good,_ Harry thought as he turned on his heel and left the office, very much ready to take a couple months to himself.

* * *

**A/N: Well that's it for second year! I've gotten some comments on Harry's behavior this year and such, and let me reassure you that everything I do I do with purpose and has an explanation. But I hope this chapter had kind of reassured you as to Harry's character and given you some hints as to his motivations. He was a bit lost this year, but all with good reason. But he's back on the fast track to Voldemort, and they will meet by the end of next year, I promise.**

**Thanks again for the reviews, follows, comments, favorites, etc. It really is great knowing that there are people out there reading this. And I love hearing what you guys have to say and your comments are always so helpful. I know where I'm going with this story and have things that I'd like to happen along the way, but as far as the little things, mostly I'm just making it up as I go along, so if you'd have something that you'd like to see feel free to tell me. Or just other general critique (or praise :P) is good too :)**

**Next Year: I'm introducing an original character (well sort of… it's a little cliché as far as HP fanfiction goes). Hopefully you won't hate him. He is very necessary, but just in case you do hate him he is hardly a main character, but his presence is needed... And yeah, by the end of it Voldemort will have made an appearance, more or less ;) And stuff will happen in between.**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Harry sat at the kitchen table at home while his mother stood at the counter brewing an herbicide potion for the weeds in the front lawn while Harry's father sat across the table reading the Prophet.

"So what are you planning on studying this summer Harry?" Lily asked conversationally.

Harry's relationship with his parents since the chamber had been weird, to say the least. They seemed to be pretending that the whole thing never happened, but to a bizarre extreme where in an effort to not let Harry know their true feelings towards him regarding the incident, they had gone to the other side of the spectrum of their emotion and had become sickeningly sweet. They had since become some sort of poster family for the lighter side of the Wizarding world, when in reality their dysfunction had reached new heights.

After Harry got out of school, Lily and James had announced that they had rented a cottage on the coast and were going to spend a few weeks there on their holiday, since they were not going to the Dursley's this year because they were spending the summer touring the States as a present for Dudley's thirteenth birthday. So, the Potter's had spent the past two weeks at a quaint cottage that overlooked the ocean while they had family meals together, built sandcastles together, splashed in the waves together, and pretty much lived like muggles for a little while, all while doing everything, one more time, together.

But what was a little surprising about this question from his mother was that this was actually one of the first times that she mentioned Harry's ability to do magic, none the less give him an opportunity to remind her that he did it particularly well.

"Er, I don't know. I wasn't going to have any expectations this year. It just depends on what my tutor knows I guess. I mean, if he happens to know Occulumency and Legilimency, then I'd study it. If he knows a lot about transfiguration I'd probably learn about that. If he was actually rather dreadful at magic but knew a lot about muggle fighting then I'd learn that for all that it matters. As long as I'm learning something potentially useful, I don't really care right now. But if he doesn't know anything that I don't already know, then I think I'd like to focus on charms and maybe a little transfiguration. I've been so focused on defense magic for such a long time; I don't think I've really worked on my sort of non defense charm outside of the school curriculum for years now." Harry explained.

"Oh, that sounds lovely, dear." Lily said neutrally before returning to stirring her potion.

His new tutor was supposed to be getting here any minute now, and Harry wasn't really sure how to feel. Thankfully, he would not be having the same tutor that he had last year, as that man was worthless. However, he was unsure that the new tutor would be any better.

He had actually been surprised that his parents had let him get a tutor this year. He had been concerned that maybe they didn't want him to learn anymore about magic. But when they told him that he would begin meeting with a tutor after they returned from the beach, Harry had instantly assumed that the tutor had been hand selected by the order and arranged to tutor him through the ministry so that Harry could have the proper guidance in the growth of his magic. They probably had figured that it was better Harry was learning light spells under the direct supervision of someone with on Order affiliation than locked in his room laughing maniacally as he practiced unforgivables wandlessly on small fuzzy animals, or whatever it was that they thought Harry might do if he was left to his own devices at this point.

There was a knock at the door and Harry got up from his seat and headed to the front door, his parents trailing behind him. Harry opened the door to find a tall, fit man with a long nose, high cheek bones and shoulder length black hair that was tied back.

"Hello Harry." The man greeted as he looked down at harry with piercing violet eyes.

Harry was a bit shocked by the man, who was not at all what he had been expecting. Harry had been expecting some sort of short, tubby man with big bottle cap glasses, ill fitting robes, and a stain covered tie, honestly. He was not expecting the well dressed man with a commanding presence.

But apparently his parents weren't either.

"You're Gerald Stubbington?" James asked.

"No," The man began with a voice so smooth you might have thought he was singing "It turns out that Larry could not make the commitment this summer to tutor young Harry, so I have agreed to take the position in his place. My name is Craig Goldman." The man said as he bowed his head and offered his hand to James, who took it cautiously.

"Right. Okay. Come inside then." James said as he released the other man's hand.

Craig stepped inside while Harry was still trying to recover from the surprise of this seemingly powerful man. Harry was used to being the most powerful and often the most commanding person in the room, despite being a child. But this man was commanding the power and respect that Harry had only ever seen one other person command personally, and that was Albus Dumbledore. Except his power was not the same as Dumbledore, it felt different from Dumbledore's magic, but Harry could not determine how. Harry figured it might be because Harry felt as if this man could be very frightening if he chose to be, while Dumbledore would have to be under the imperius curse to make a threat that actually sounded like a threat, the man being passive aggressive at his absolute worst.

"So, Harry, where will we be working?" Craig asked, sounding rather friendly, a tone that made the imposing looking man even more surprising and confusing as he continued to not meet even the new expectations Harry set for him.

"Er, in the backyard."

"Lead the way." The man said, offering Harry a surprisingly warm smile.

And so Harry did. Harry walked through the house to the backyard and stood on the patio that overlooked the woods that encroached upon the house after a fair sized bit of cleared lawn, and stood there waiting for the man to walk up beside him.

However, instead of watching the shadow of his new tutor to appearing besides him, Harry fell to the ground screaming in agony, but finding that no sound was leaving his mouth.

"Lesson number one: never let your guard down and don't trust anyone, not even in the slightest, particularly if they have not even done anything to earn it." He heard a voice say as the pain subsided. Mr. Goldman's appeared above him, looking down on Harry as he lay on the ground.

Harry gaped at the man, unsure of what had just happened or what to do now.

"Are you going to lie there all day?" The man drawled, sounding bored.

"Who the hell are you?" Harry finally managed to say as he picked himself up off the ground.

The man smiled wickedly.

"That is no language for a child." He chided.

"I'm nearly thirteen. Plus, with the things I've seen and the things I've done, there is hardly a reason to pretend I'm innocent by stopping me from using a slightly more frowned upon word." Harry reasoned. "And that doesn't answer my question."

"I'm your tutor." Craig replied simply.

"I take it that I will get no other answer from you." Harry resigned, taking the man's attack on him as enough of a warning that he should not push him in any way.

"You will get all the answers in time, child."

"Well what should I call you at least?" Harry asked in exasperation.

"You shan't call me anything right now. There will be no need for you to address me."

Harry looked at the man a little dumbfounded for a moment, but quickly recovered, already adjusting to the man's antics.

"Fine then. And you will call me anything but a child in return." Harry said.

The man's face darkened as he held out his hand and Harry found himself being drawn over to the man with force, ending up standing on the very tips of his toes as the man held onto a bunch of Harry's robes, pulling Harry up to eye level with the much taller man by the chest. The man leaned down the rest of the distance to Harry and hissed in Harry's ear.

"I will call you whatever I want to call you, child. But I will appease you just this once, fëmija."

He released Harry, and the boy stumbled backwards.

"What does that mean?" Harry asked, which out of all the things Harry considered saying, seeming least likely to get him killed.

"It's Albanian for child." The man smirked and Harry crossed his arms and scowled. "Oh, look at yourself, fëmija; you are even acting like a child."

"So you're Albanian?" Harry asked as he uncrossed his arms and straightened out his posture in order to try to look a little more like an adult, but left traces of the scowl behind.

"No, it was just the first language that I thought of that had a word for child that I liked." The man explained, causing Harry to tilt his head in curiosity.

"You speak many languages? Will you teach me?" Harry asked with a sudden eagerness. He had always wanted to be multi-lingual, and had tried on several occasions to read books on that claimed to teach a language, but found that without having someone who actually knew the language the correct him as he practiced speaking and writing it, he was not going to be able to truly learn the language.

Maybe this summer would be productive after all. Not only did this man appear to be very powerful, but he also had a lot of knowledge about other non magical things.

"Perhaps I can teach you a little, fëmija, but language is not what I am here to teach you."

"Then what did you come here to teach me?" Harry asked, perhaps a little too testily he realized as the man's eyes narrowed just slightly.

"What you need to know." Was all he said, and Harry sighed in defeat.

"Right. Well can we get on that then?"

"Of course." The man said as he walked out towards the woods. Harry thought about questioning him, but decided against it and merely followed instead.

The man walked into the woods and walked to an area where there were no trees or bushes. Harry followed the man and stood before him after the man stopped. The man raised his arms from his sides and turned his palms out before he began to spin in a slow circle. The leaves that covered the ground began to fly in a sudden wind that Harry could only assume the man was creating. Harry ducked to the ground as not to get hit by the man, and braced himself against the wind, burying his head in his arms. A few moments later Harry felt the wind stop and he uncovered his face and straightened back up, looking around as he did so. The small leaf covered break in the woods had become a large, circular grass covered clearing, much to Harry's surprise.

"You do wandless magic?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I suppose I do." The man responded cryptically.

Harry could not figure out how to respond to that in a dignified manner.

"Er," Harry stammered, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't get him called out for being immature, but snapped his mouth shut as he realized that he was already failing. "What as that spell you used on me?" Harry asked crossly, suddenly, remembering the pain he had been in minutes ago.

"It wasn't a spell."

"What do you mean it wasn't a spell?" Harry said angrily, tired of everything he asked not truly being answered.

"I mean that it was not a spell." The man repeated.

"But," Harry began, but stopped, taking a deep breath to calm himself in order to regain his composure. "Then what was it?"

"Magic."

Harry sighed.

"What kind of magic?"

"Oh, there you go, fëmija, asking the right question. You must learn to figure out what you can for yourself and ask only what you really do not know and cannot validly assume from the situation." The man said endearingly and Harry gritted his teeth, tired of the man's rather bipolar behavior. "You really must learn to relax, Harry. Anyway, it is just a pure form of magic, utilized because of how in touch I am to my magical core. It is similar to the way in which you can use your magic, except I don't believe it to be completely the same."

"Wait, how do you know about my magic?"

"Do you really think I would take the job of tutoring you without knowing anything about you?"

"Right." Harry muttered. He knew that the information about his pure magic was getting out, but he wasn't sure how he felt about unintended people being able to be a hold of it. Granted, the intended audience for said information was Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. But believe it or not, he didn't want every person on the street looking at him thinking that he was the next Merlin. I had always wanted respect, but he had never wanted to become any sort of celebrity in the process.

"What do you mean my magic's different?" Harry asked indignantly.

"Well, there is a reason that most wizards cannot use their magic in the way that you can. Some wizards can use their magic in a way similar than the way I can, but it takes many, many years to be able to do so. Most wizards who have been able to are prodigies as children and finally only gain the ability once they've surpassed a nearly a century of practice, only having access to such a skill for a few years before their death." The man explained.

"Then how can you do it?" Harry asked.

"Don't ask questions that I haven't already given you enough information to determine the answer to, fëmija. How many times will I have to tell you this?" The man reprimanded. Harry gasped at the response and then furrowed his eyebrows in wonder before scowling.

"Probably at least a few more times as long as you won't tell me in plain English unbelievable things like that a man who looks no more than thirty-five is over a hundred years old, or at least has a hundred years of practice anyway." Harry muttered huffily, not really sure what to do with the information. He decided that he wouldn't worry about it just then.

The man smirked in response.

"I suppose you're right then. But anyway, I have a few theories as to why you can use your magic the way in which you do, but I'd need to observe you more before I can determine whether they are possibly correct."

"So…?" Harry drawled, unsure of where the man was going with any of this.

"Release your magic for me." The man commanded, and Harry did without argument.

The air within the circle of grass gained a deep violet tint as Harry released his magic quickly so that it filled the space of the clearing.

Harry watched as the man tilted his head back as he gasped. Not satisfied that the man that had abused him all afternoon was still standing shot out his light magic and wrapped it around the man, giving him a squeeze with the golden cord.

The man flinched as Harry did so, but he did not fall to his knees as people normally did.

Harry pulled a little tighter.

"Enough." The man commanded, but Harry didn't feel like listening. The man didn't listen to him, why should Harry listen to the man?

"I said enough, Harry." The man said so harshly that Harry was a bit startled. He quickly did as the man wished and pulled back his magic.

Harry stared at the man who was now looking at Harry in curiosity.

"Your magic is intoxicating." The man said finally.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, not exactly sure how to take that comment.

"The power, it's orgasmic." The man said bluntly.

"What?" Harry began, but then a thought popped into his mind at that and he cringed. "Merlin, Snape was getting off on my magic! Oh Merlin, that's disgusting." Harry scrunched up his face at the memory of Snape on the ground trembling after he had released his magic in front of the man those few years ago and was horrified that he had been too naïve to see it for what it was then.

"I really couldn't blame him." The man smirked and if Harry's eyes widened a bit.

"But why didn't anyone else tell me! I mean, I think Sirius would have at the very least used the opportunity to make a crude joke. You're just some sort of masochistic pervert." Harry reasoned in uncomfortable exasperation.

"That's a big word for a twelve year old, fëmija." The man smirked. "But no, that's part of my theory actually, which I may tell you now if you can manage to save your, 'But I'm nearly thirteen and I'm not even your average thirteen year old' comment for later." The man said and Harry snapped his mouth, which he had opened to make that exact comment, shut.

"Your dark magic is very charismatic, it is rather strange. It could be fairly powerful if it you wanted to use it as such, but in comparison to your light magic it is nothing, so you do not seem to bother with focusing the energy in a way that would make the magic more productive. But because it is dark magic, light wizards, like the majority of the wizards that you have used your magic on, would only find discomfort in it because of the way it interacts with their light magic. However, to a dark wizard, t is pleasing to be in its power.

"However, the fact that the dark magic and light magic exist inside you at the same time and the way in which they interact is very strange, actually completely unheard of. I'd expect one to fight out the other for dominance if for some reason you did acquire both types, but it is as if the dark magic had agreed to become submissive to the light magic." The man thought aloud.

"But then why do you think that I can use my magic in the way that I can?" Harry asked.

"I would guess that it's because your magical core has been damaged. It is as if it has a hole in it that allows the magic to seep out." The man concluded finally. Harry frowned.

"But how would my core get damaged?" Harry asked with a rather bitter kind of concern. He had always liked the idea of being great and powerful, but now his power was being reduced to being the result of having been broken in some sort of fluke.

"That I do not know, fëmija." Harry's lips thinned in frustration and the man shrugged slightly. "Do not worry about it. The circumstances that led to you acquiring this kind of power would be interesting to understand, but not knowing does not invalidate the power that you can wield." The man explained and Harry sighed softly.

"Yeah, alright." He mumbled and shrugged, not knowing what else to say.

"Well, I think that our time is up for today." The man said as he started walking back out of the woods, Harry following after him. "I would not want to keep you too long."

"Yeah, or else my parent's might begin to think that you're out here molesting me." Harry smirked as he regained his wits.

"I think your parents know you well enough to know that you can certainly take care of yourself, whether or not they like to admit it." The man said seriously before grinning wickedly. "But if anyone is molesting anyone here, I believe that you were molesting me, fëmija."

Harry scowled before storming back inside and up to his room, without even deigning to say goodbye, not caring at all anymore about looking childish.

* * *

**A/N: That scene towards the end that mentions Snape was written a while ago (Back when I wrote that original scene with Snape that I refer to), which was back when I still wasn't sure if this fic would be slash-y. I hope you don't find it too inappropriate. I tried to make it a little more playful and teasing. And Harry is now nearly thirteen after all, so maybe I can try to earn the rating I've given this a little bit more. But nothing has changed and this story still will not be slash. Just having some fun.**

**And I hope my character doesn't bother you too much. If he does he really will only be present until the end of the summer (which will be one chapter, two at the most) and then probably make a brief appearance or two during the school year, and then maybe a few more times before the end. But Harry does need someone a little more on his level to play with for a little while at least, before we can get to Voldemort… I don't know; let me know what you think. If you hate other characters tell me and I'll try to write him in as little as possible but if you like him, then tell me so I don't kill him off next chapter or something (not that I have any intent on doing something like that).**

**And I since I could only be called bilingual if you don't want any verbs conjugated properly in my second language (which is certainly not Albanian anyway…), understand that any time I use another language in this story it's translated from Google translate or Word Reference and if it's wrong, I'm sorry, you are clearly infinitely more cultured then me and I will forever be jealous.**

**Up Next: We uncover the mystery that is Craig Goldman (Just in case it isn't obvious. Hint: Craig Goldman is not his real name.)**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Harry grinned as the man writhed on the ground in agony.

_Payback. _

There certainly had been a lot that Harry needed to pay the man back for. He had only been studying for a month with the man, but that month had been hell. The man seemed to truly want to kill Harry, he had decided. He could figure out no other motivation for the man's brutality.

Harry had spent the last month sore, tired, and with a horrible headache. He doubted that he had every worked so hard in his life before, and he was certainly paying physically for not being accustomed to the high demands.

But in this moment as Harry watched the man suffer, he was beginning to feel all of the pain and aches that plagued his entire body finally recede.

Harry should probably have been satisfied that the man seemed to actually want to teach him things that he wanted to learn, but the man's idea of tutoring turned out to be vicious training. Even though they only worked together a few hours a day, Harry had never been more mentally and physically exhausted in his life and he hoped to never be again after the end of this summer.

Harry and the man had worked on Harry's pure magic all summer, along with some muggle fighting and some sword and knife work. The man had told Harry that everyone knew defensive spells, but that what would make Harry different and more likely to win in a fight would be if he knew things that most wizards did not. No one else was truly able to use magic like Harry could in such a physical way, and very few wizards had enough power to use magic like the man could, completely wandlessly and unrestricted by any traditional conventions of magic, right down to the concept of a spell.

Very few wizards bothered with non magical combat and having anything over anyone you may be fighting with is advantageous, even if it was something that might be seen as a weakness if it had to be used alone. Plus, with Harry's love of transfiguring swords, it was really about time that he learned to use one properly. And, Harry thought that knife skills, although not exceptionally productive in combat, were a scary as hell ability to have. He thoroughly looked forward to the day when he would be sitting at dinner with unpleasant company one night and would throw his knife across the room so it grazed their head and landed in the wall behind them, terrifying them and amusing him.

Harry and the man had also worked on Occulumency, building up a fortress inside Harry's mind. Harry had also worked on Legilimency, but could not seem to get passed the man's surface memories, ones that the man was clearly allowing him to see, no matter how hard he tried to push past the man's mental barriers. But Harry was too determined and the man had too many secrets for Harry to not get inside the man's head before the end of the summer, and he would continue to try to get inside the man's mind.

But perhaps most impressively, after the brutal month of work, Harry was able to visualize something happening, focus his magic, and have what he pictured happen. And right now he was picturing the man in pain, just as the man had done to him the first day that they met.

Harry knew that he was virtually casting a Cruciatus, although he was not sure how the pain levels compared, and while he had never been particularly fond of unforgivables, finding them rather cowardly, he found this form of torture a little more acceptable. Unforgivables made pain, control, and death easy. They were instant satisfaction for the caster, and Harry thought it shouldn't be that easy for anyone who was a little more pissed off or spiteful than average to be able to control someone, cause them agony, or kill them without a second thought.

But Harry could now do unforgivables without really doing unforgivables and he had had to work at developing the skill, and now had acquired a skill that only a few wizards in the entire world had. It was something special, just as the ability to manipulate or end someone else's life should be.

After a few more moments Harry finally took mercy on the man. Harry had kept the man in pain longer than he had originally expected to, hoping for the man to scream, just as Harry would have if not for the silencer that had been put on him. But the man was too strong, stubborn, and prideful to appease Harry in such a way. So, in order to not risk killing or causing serious damage to the man, he had had to cease the pain that he was inflicting on him.

The man lay on the ground, panting as he was freed from the agony, and after a few moments for recovery, rose from the ground and stood to face Harry and smiled, causing Harry's eyes to narrow.

The level of animosity Harry felt for this man had only increased the longer he knew this man.

"I always knew that you could do it, fëmija. You're truly spectacular." The man complimented with a sickeningly sweet tone that made Harry's skin crawl.

_Always._

The man had also managed to reprogram the way Harry's brain worked and Harry now picked up on the tiniest details of what everyone said and did, because the man would not tell Harry anything unless it was the right question. Harry had quickly realized that hint dropping the man did was all a game to him that he took great pleasure in, and Harry had soon figured out how to beat the man's game, if only to prevent the crowns of Harry's teeth being ground smooth over the summer because of the aggravation that Harry seemed to feel constantly now-a-days.

"How long is always?" Harry asked tersely.

"About a year." The man said simply.

_Great, the psycho has been stalking me for a year. _Harry had decided within days of meeting the man that he was clearly not just a ministry tutor who had some free time, but had somehow forced his way into the position as Harry's tutor, so this information honestly didn't surprise him. But it certainly didn't comfort him either.

"When did you first know about my power, exactly?" Harry followed up.

"Towards the end of your first year at school. I thought there was some sort of magical disturbance within Hogwarts, one of the wards collapsing or something. But I found out that it was just you." The man said as he looked at Harry with fondness that Harry did not reciprocate. The man must have felt Harry the night that he had been in the chamber with Quirrell.

"Why were you near Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"I was just passing through the forbidden forest." The man said simply.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"I believe that you've reached your quota of questions for the day, fëmija." The man said with another one of his twisted smiles.

"You're such an arse." The man's smile grew.

"You're moving to the Burrow tomorrow and I doubt we will be able to work on your pure magic anymore with the amount of people that will be there. So, I'm afraid as far as this goes, this has been your last lesson. From this point we should really only be able to work on more conventional magic or physical combat." The man said. Harry developed his own twisted grin the match the man's.

"But I've been practicing something and I wanted to try it out." Harry said, transforming his face into a pout that he knew the man couldn't resist. The sick bastard had thoroughly proved that he liked Harry more than he should over these past few weeks, but Harry had been decidedly using it to his advantage.

"Alright then, show me." The man said as his eyes softened.

"Okay!" Harry chirped, his enthusiasm frighteningly false, in a sociopath trying to imitate human emotion but has become too disturbed to care enough to do it authentically kind of way.

Harry released his dark magic and the man's smile grew even more alarmingly pleased. Just as the man allowed his eyes to roll back into his head, Harry caught the man's mans gaze before the Irises could slip back into the man's skull and harshly thought the incantation.

_Legilimens. _

Harry held out his dark magic as he forced his way into the man's mind, ignoring the memories that sat at the surface, the one's that the man must have been replaying as Harry had entered his mind. They were all of Harry. Harry wielding a sword, Harry throwing knives, Harry going at a transfigured muggle punching bag, Harry standing in the field as his power swirled around him, picking up leaves and his hair blowing wildly. _This is disgusting, I really should not put up with this. _Harry thought as he glimpsed the memories as he pushed past them into the barrier of the man's mind.

But the truth was despite his contempt for the man, Harry had learned so much more in a shorter period of time than he ever had before, and he was more powerful than ever. And he'd like to see the man try and lay a hand on him.

Harry began to ram into the barrier repeatedly, and Harry soon was beginning to feel exhausted at the effort. But he wasn't going to give up this time. Harry shoved one more time and the barrier collapsed, giving Harry full access to the man's mind. Harry sorted through the memories, trying to find one that would help him understand something, anything about the man. Harry caught a glimpse of a familiar name in one the memories that went by and he latched onto it.

The man sat at a wooden desk in what looked to be a cabin in the woods. The man was writing a letter, addressed to one Gilderoy Lockhart.

"_For months now they've been blackmailing me, threatening to tell the Prophet."_ Harry remembered what Lockhart had said a couple of months ago before Harry went into the chamber.

_The man was the one that had been the one blackmailing Lockhart?_ Harry thought. He wasn't sure if that made his hate the man a little less or a whole lot more. It did cause Lockhart to try to attack Harry and Sirius, but it also led to the man's well deserved demise, as he now sat in Azkaban, although someone had unshrunk that ex-Professors head during his trial.

Harry pushed farther into the man's mind for the more deeply protected memories. He heard another familiar name as he got to one, and he quickly took hold of the memory to see its contents.

"_Are you Gerald Stubbington?_" The man asked. He was standing in an ally that looked to be in muggle London, probably not too far from the ministry. Harry felt apprehensive at the man's question. If the clichés of things that happened in allies were true, this memory was going nowhere good, fast.

"_Yes, w-why?"_ The man that looked exactly as Harry had imagined him to stammered under the glare of the imposing other man.

"_No reason."_ The man said as he lunged for the shorter and stouter man, biting into his neck.

Harry pulled himself from the man's mind in shock, pulling back his magic in the process, as he slammed his palm into his forehead.

_Of course. Of course the man was a bloody vampire. Why would my life accept reality any less ridiculous?_ Harry thought as he looked at the man who looked back at him with a curious expression on his face. Harry figured he should be more afraid of the man now, that he should be terrified of this probably great and ancient vampire. But really, Harry was actually just a little amused at how intensely dramatic, officially nearly to the point of being satirical, his life had become. Harry was still and pretty much always had been a rather frightening child if he wanted to be, and in the moment Harry's life always had felt rather serious. But now looking back, he realized that if he tried to describe the events of his life to someone, at this point they too would be slamming their palm into their forehead, saying, "Really?" too. His luck was just ridiculously terrible.

"There you go, fëmija. It certainly took you long enough." The man smirked and Harry just shook his head in disbelief at the fact that this man simply managed to continue to exist within Harry's life.

Somewhere, someone was taking great pleasure in this.

One day, he would find them and make them pay.

But for now, this was his reality.

"Will you tell me your real name now?" Harry said as he shook his head and sighed, having become resigned and completely ambivalent to this man's existence.

"My name is Krv Gospodar." The man said with a small bow.

"And what exactly have your intentions been, Krv?" Harry said with his eye brows raised, not even caring anymore if the man found that suggestive.

"Only ever to have an opportunity to be a part of your life, fëmija, no matter how small a part. Your power is so spectacular; I would be a fool to have ignored it. It was such an easy opportunity too. The ministry is disorganized, that Order of yours pushing through the weakest most pathetic excuse for a wizard they could find to be your tutor, he was tasted as disgusting as he looked, by the way, it was so easy." Krv explained. Harry accepted the answer, cringing a little at the last part, knowing that it was the truth even though it was a kind of creepy rationale.

"Why were you blackmailing Lockhart?" Harry asked, moving on to the next question.

"That was also opportunity. The vampire community has been after Lockhart for years for spreading those lies about us. Not only had no vampire ever met a Gilderoy Lockhart, but the information in that book of his is completely untrue. I was just going to scare him for a while and then have him as a snack, but what you did to him was much more satisfying, although not for my thirst."

"Do you always kill your meals?" Harry asked, mostly out of curiosity, he had read about vampires, not in Lockhart's book of course, but even still little was known for sure about them, as they liked very much to keep to themselves usually.

"I often do." Krv explained with a slightly alarming level of pride. "But we can feed if we chose to regularly from live sources without killing them if we chose to. But I'd have to have a source, and as much as I fantasize about you doing so, I know that you would never make such an offer." Krv said with a Dumbledore like twinkle in his eye that made Harry feel slightly nauseous. If you took more than a minute to think about Krv, he was really a serial killer and a child predator. He would go to jail for several life sentences in the muggle world.

But in the wizard world he was a misunderstood, tortured creatures that were left alone, rarely interacting with other wizards enough to commit a crime against them, none the less be punished for their various crimes against humanity

"You're very right." Harry said dryly. Krv sighed longingly. "So your magic, is that from being a vampire?" Harry asked.

"No. I was a wizard before I became a vampire and now I'm still a wizard afterwards. Muggles who turn into vampires still don't have magic, although they do have the slightly heightened senses, increased strength and speed, et cetera, that is associated with vampires." Krv explained and Harry nodded as he stored away the knowledge.

"Well, I do believe my time in hell for today has ended." Harry drawled, not caring to know anymore about the man or vampires, as a decent preventative measure against the nightmares and paranoia Harry was sure would plague him if he spent excess amounts of time talking with this man about things other than swords, literal ones. Certainly not the conversation the Krv would gladly have about metaphorical ones ("Let me impale you with my sword. It's quite large," Said with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle).

"I believe you know how to show yourself out, and I'll see you at the Burrow far too soon." Harry concluded as he began to walk out of the woods, leaving the vampire behind him.

* * *

Harry and Krv stood out in the front yard of the Burrow sword fighting while the Weasley children sat in the grass and watched in awe. The transfigured swords that they were using had been charmed so that they would not inflict damage, but could still be used to satisfyingly stab your opponent in the stomach.

"Come on Harry, I know you can do better than this." Krv called as he encroached upon Harry, forcing the young wizard the back up.

"Yes, it appears that there are some things that you do know." Harry said as he ducked under Krv's sword as it was slashed towards him and lunged towards the vampire, thrusting his own sword into the man's side in the process.

Harry pulled his sword out of the man and smirked at him in satisfaction.

"Wicked!" The twins said in unison as they both quickly summoned rocks from the nearby garden and transfigured them into swords. Harry watched in surprise as they did the transfiguration. It wasn't actually that challenging or that rare of a transfiguration as long as you put the right focus into it and acquired the right book, but it was a transfiguration that most wizards did not bother to learn.

"Can you teach us that charm, Harry?" One twin asked.

"Er, alright." Harry said as he went over and explained the charm to them, leaving Krv to watch him with interest.

Within a few minutes, Fred and George were fighting each other with the enchanted swords. Harry watched in amusement as the one that Harry thought might have been George stabbed the one that might have been Fred, who then fell to his knees dramatically.

"Oh!" He wailed. "I am wounded, in an attack by my dearest brother! I have never felt such betrayal." The twin fell over into the grass. "Ron, Ginny," He croaked, as if he was near death. "I hereby leave everything I own to you two. And please, seek vengeance for my death." He whispered before he dropped his head into the grass and closed his eyes, leaving his tongue hanging comically out of the side of his mouth. Ron looked at his older brother with his eyes wide and his eye brows raised and Ginny giggled a little bit.

Harry frowned as possibly Fred's siblings dropped the joke, and not knowing what came over himself, Harry decided to pick it back up again.

"Don't worry, I won't allow you to die in vain." Harry whispered as he knelt down beside the twin. Harry then jumped up and lunged at possibly George, sword raised. George looked a little stunned for a second, but quickly leaped into action. The fight was over within moments as Harry impaled maybe George with his sword, and George fell to the ground just as dramatically as his brother had.

"Oh, to die at the hand of The Great Harry Potter, it is an honor. Had I known that my brother had your protection, I never would have dared make an attack on him." George's voice faded as he exhaled his 'last breath.'

Then, at the same moment both of the twins leaped up began to applaud.

"Great show, Harry! Great show!" George cheered.

"Yeah, Harry. I had always assumed that you had a stick up your arse, but apparently our own brother and sister, who we have tried so hard to train for years, do not know when to run with a joke." Fred said.

"Now that is a true betrayal." George added as both he and his twin smacked Ron upside the head simultaneously.

Harry smirked, deciding not to regret his decision to act his age for once in his life. He had managed to reassure himself that no one stood a chance against him, even if he had been completely wiped of his magical ability and only had a sword; and he had gotten to see Ron be slapped, something that didn't seem to happen to the oblivious boy often enough. Plus, it had been, although he would never admit it aloud, kind of fun.

Harry looked over at Krv was standing watching him with his arms crossed. The man noticed Harry looked at him smirked and winked.

Harry made his way towards the vampire and jabbed his sword into the man's groin before transfiguring sword back into a rock and dropping the rock to the ground.

"Stop thinking about me like that you pedophile." Harry hissed before he continued walking towards the burrow.

"Someday, I'll bite you for your insolence." The Harry heard the man hiss from behind him as he walked away.

"Well thank Merlin then that I only have to put up with you for another week." Harry growled as he made his way back inside.

* * *

**A/N: Krv Gospodar means Blood Lord (terribly creative, I know…) in several languages (Croatian, Macedonian, and if you make it krŭv (or use the appropriate alphabet…), Bulgarian). At least according to Google translate. The pronunciation seems to vary, at least when I have Google translate say it to me in the various languages (well, actually, for some reason Google won't speak to me in Bulgarian, I don't understand how Macedonian it gets but Bulgarian it doesn't), Krev seems to work if you like Croatia, and for Macedonia I'm hearing something more along the line of Karavf actually. But you clearly have a computer, so if you're deeply interested then go hear for yourself. But I don't really care how you read it. Oh, and the last name is pretty phonetic.**

**This is really the last of Krv for the most part. He might be mentioned or make an appearance a few more times throughout the story as a whole, but Krv is not Harry's mentor, Voldemort is. And thank God for that. But Harry had been getting a little soft and needed to be whipped into shape. And he really needed to learn something's that you can't learn from books…. But Krv is kind of horrible. But, I don't know, that amuses me. Makes Harry seem a little more human in comparison to a true monster I suppose and gives Harry an opportunity to be humorously (well, I try) cynical.**

**Sorry that the past two chapters have been kind of short, but honestly even a 3,800 word chapter instead of a 4,800 words chapter at my update frequency is more than the standard in fanfiction world. But really, most people post a 5,000 word chapter every two weeks, not post 15 chapters and over 60,000 words in two weeks. I really need a bit more of a life (I'm not actually even socially dysfunctional, I just am really good about making time for this, by doing things like sleeping two hours less a night than I did prior to writing this, and I prewrote the first eight chapters before publishing it so I could post the entire first book all at once, so I haven't actually written that much in two weeks. But appreciate it anyway :P)**

**Screw my promises about A/N-ing less. I'm like psychologically predisposed to feel a need to over explain myself. I'm sure if you hate reading this it's not difficult for you to skip if you trust my choices as an author completely. In fact, I'm sure you won't read this because you stopped reading my A/N's a long time ago.**

**Up Next: Back to School. I'm really looking forward to this year. And next year. And the year after that. And after that, too. Well, just everything from here on out I guess. The story just finally really begins to pick up from here and I'm super excited to share my excitement with you guys.**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It was the day before he would return to Hogwarts and Harry sat in the Leakey Cauldron with the Weasley's, Hermione, and Neville, as their parents along with some other members of the Order talked nervously across the pub.

"Isn't Azkaban supposed to be inescapable?" Ron said rather dumbly.

"'Supposed to' is the key phrase there, baby brother." Possibly George pointed out.

"Voldemort's just probably upset about the not managing to kill a student last year and not getting the stone the year before. I guess he's getting desperate and decided that doing some damage at Azkaban would be easier than doing some at Hogwarts." Hermione reasoned, and Harry couldn't help but nod in agreement. Harry was actually pretty positive that that was the situation.

"But the traitor and the Draco's psychopathic uncle escaped. I mean, that rat could have caused You-Know-Who to win the war years ago if he hadn't been caught spying for Voldemort. This is a huge blow, it must be really hard on your Dad, Lupin, and Sirius. I still can't believe that it was even able to happen." Ron muttered.

"Exactly Ron, I think You-know-Who is trying to come out of retirement, but he's been failing miserably and desperately wanted to do anything to prove that he hasn't lost his touch. Particularly if he's caught on to the fact that a pre-teen foiled his last two attempts."

"So do you think he's gonna try to attack Hogwarts again?" Ron squeaked.

"I think it's almost certain. That's why the Dementors are going to be at Hogwarts, to be on the lookout for Pettigrew and Lestrange or any other Death Eater how should be in Azkaban but has been in hiding that may show their face because of You-Know-Who's desperation." Hermione continued to explain.

"So, Lupin's gonna be the Defense teacher?" Neville asked, changing the subject.

"That's what I've been told." Harry responded.

Harry wasn't sure how he felt about Lupin being the defense teacher. On one hand, Harry was glad that the Lupin may actually be a competent professor, but on the other it would also be one more person babysitting him to make sure he didn't spend any of this time wandlessly and nonverbally inflicting pain upon small fuzzy animals, or whatever it is that the Order thought he would do, if left to his own devices (although now he could actually do such things if he wanted to. But Harry was not much into torture, at least not of anything that didn't do hell of a lot to deserve it.)

But, since at Hogwarts defense teachers don't last more than a year, Harry figured that it didn't matter to much either way. But he really did hope that at the end of this year he didn't end up below the school fighting him to the death though, because out of all of the Order members, he did kind of like Lupin the best. He was always good at leaving Harry alone. Harry thought that Lupin understood Harry's conflict of being a darker being trapped among light wizards, and treated him accordingly.

"I'm going to go see how long this will take, maybe see if I can go down to Flourish and Blotts if we aren't leaving soon." Harry stated before rising from the table.

"Oh! I'll come too!" Hermione said, as she was always looking for any opportunity to find a new book. Neville also stood up from his seat, although he didn't say anything.

"Guess we're all going then." The twins said at the same time, pulling Ron a disgruntled Ron, who had been mid butter beer sip, up with them.

Harry shook his head and sighed as he made his way over to the table where the adults sat.

"If you aren't going to be finished here soon, can I go down to Flourish and Blotts?" Harry asked his father.

"Harry, we can't really spare anyone to go with you right now." James said.

"That's alright, I'm fine on my own." Harry reassured.

"Harry, I really don't think that it's a good idea." His mother said before Harry could turn and leave.

"Why not?" Harry huffed.

"Because You-Know-Who could very well have put an order out among his followers for you to be brought to him dead or alive." Sirius hissed, leaning in to make sure no one else in the pub overheard.

Harry blew air out through his nose and folded his arms across his chest.

Harry had originally tried to keep his move about giving the diary back to Lucius a secret, but of course Dumbledore's hearing was surprisingly good for such an old man and Harry had been forced to admit his play to the Order, much to their worry and disappointment. Harry had also not figured out how to tell the Order that he didn't really want to be an honorary member anymore without causing some sort of incident, and so he remained within their clutches. Not that he would ever really be able to escape them without pledging allegiance to the dark and being disowned.

"It's not as if I'll be going anywhere near Knockturn Alley or anything," Harry stated before dropping his voice to a hiss. "And you know very well that I have a better chance of protecting myself than any of you do of protecting me."

"Yes," Lily said slowly, after a moment. "But what about everyone else." Lily said, nodding towards the quarter of the entire Gryffindor house that was standing behind Harry, watching with interest.

"Tonks, go with 'em." Moody commanded gruffly.

"Why do I have to play babysitter?" The newest and youngest Order member whined, but got up from the table anyway. "Well, come on then. All of you." She said as she made her way out of the pub and into Diagon Alley, the children of the Order following behind her.

A few minutes later the group had made their way into Flourish and Blotts and Harry made his way over to the Arithmancy section. That, along with Ancient Runes, was the elective he had decided to take this year and he had been reading up on both as much as possible.

He had decided to not take Care of Magical Creatures because Hagrid was going to be teaching it this year and after killing a Basilisk, fighting a troll, and knowing how to get past a Cerberus, Harry figured that if he had to he could probably handle almost any magical creature with the knowledge that he already had from the various books he had read on them. Harry knew that divination was pretty much worthless unless you were one of the couple people alive that actually had the sight, the professor of that class certainly not being one of them anyway. Harry's summers with the Dursley's had taught him more than he had ever wanted to know about muggles, so Muggle studies was also out.

That had left Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, both of which were subjects that Harry had not invested too much time into studying, so he was kind of excited that he may get to take a class that he did not know as much or, often in the case of defense so far, more than the teacher did. Of course he had already read the required texts for the first year of the course and had a fine understanding of both topics so far, but at the very least maybe he would only ever be a year ahead in the curriculum, because Harry had started reading a more advanced Arithmancy book and things had stopped making quite as much sense.

"Is this going to be some kind of tradition, Potter?" Harry heard a familiar voice drawl.

"Merlin, I hope not." Harry replied, turning around and smirking at the blond who had approached him. "Shouldn't you be going to get your father so he can take me away to be killed by Voldemort or something, or are you going to try to do the honors yourself?" Harry asked.

"You really think that you're that important to the Dark Lord Harry?" Draco scoffed.

"I was under that impression, but if I'm not I'd love to pass that information onto the Order so I can lose the babysitter." Harry said as he nodded towards Tonks.

Draco narrowed his eyes and looked around for a second before grabbing Harry's arm and pulling him quickly through a nearby door that turned out to lead into a small store room.

"Have you gone mental?" Harry hissed as he regained his bearings.

"No," Draco snapped. "I just thought I'd tell you that you have caused quite a stir with the Dark Lord. He's quite upset that he has apparently been repeatedly thwarted by a Hogwarts student, not even the Great Dumbledore having to do it." Draco whispered.

"As was desired. He only found out because of the message I gave your father?" Harry asked.

"Yes, He does not even know about the full extent of your power. That secret has been kept by those who know. He has been rather baffled as to how you have been able to defeat him. He wants you taken alive. But if you aren't going to be appreciative I'll stop giving you information and keeping."

_He wants me alive? Interesting_?

"Thank you for everything you've done for me, Draco." Draco seemed to soften for a moment. "I appreciate your alliance." Harry concluded and Draco's glare hardened.

"Right, sure, whatever Potter." Draco huffed before he slipped out of the store room and closed the door behind him. Harry stared at the door for a moment before going through it himself. Draco was nowhere in sight.

"What are you doing, Harry?" Harry heard someone ask quietly from behind him. Harry turned to find Neville learning up against the Herbology bookcase.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, feigning innocence.

Neville shook his head and shrugged in resignation.

"You know what I mean." Neville said.

"I'm fine Neville, don't worry about it." Harry said firmly before he turned and began to walk back to the front the shop were the Weasley's, Tonks, and Hermione were congregated.

"Who else is gonna worry 'bout you, Harry?" Harry heard Neville murmur behind him. He sighed and turned back around to face the other boy.

"You coming, Neville?" He asked giving Neville as rare, true small smile.

* * *

Harry sat in a compartment on the train with Hermione, Neville, and Ron, as had despite Harry's best efforts, become the usual.

"So what are you taking this year, Nev?" Hermione asked.

"I thought that I'd do Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies. Care of Magical Creatures is usually needed for most careers in Herbology, so I should take it. Plus Hagrid's nice, so I can't imagine the class being too hard. I can't see myself possibly having the sight, and I've heard that Ancient Runes and Arithmancy can be harder then potions, although the teachers are less likely to give you detention, so I doubt that I'd be able to get an OWL in those classes if I took them anyway. But muggles can be interesting I guess. Don't really know much about them."

"I can help you in muggle studies if you want Neville." Hermione offered.

"Yeah, figured you could. And if you're too busy I figured I could always try to get Harry to take pity on me and help." Neville said, glancing at Harry nervously.

"Harry? What does Harry know about muggles?" Hermione asked in surprise, clearly thinking she had a monopoly on knowledge about muggles, being a muggle born.

"He knows a little bit." Harry answered snidely, not being overly thrilled about Hermione talking about him as if he wasn't there.

"Reading a book about something does not make you an expert on the topic." Hermione said defensively and Harry let out a laugh and the bookworm's hypocrisy.

"I know. My mum insists on keeping in touch with her muggle sister so every other summer growing up we'd spend a couple weeks staying with them. I mean, I'm sure I don't know as much as you do, with you actually believing yourself to one for eleven years and all. But I do know about the telly and football. Can even work a microwave, if I have to. Not that I'd ever want to eat anything that comes out of one of those." Harry jeered uncharacteristically playfully.

"Oh, right then. I guess Neville wouldn't need help from me at all." Hermione said bitterly.

"Hermione," Neville pleaded. "You know you'd be my first choice for help in any subject. I was just thinking that I knew you'd be busy cause we're approaching our OWL's and all and third year being the beginning of all that." Neville explained.

"Well, you're right. I will busy." Hermione huffed and picked up her copy of _Hogwarts, A History_ and started to read. Harry rolled his eyes and picked up his own book, not really caring to make his own plea to the stubborn and easily offended girl.

Harry had just begun reading about Runes when the train suddenly stopped.

"Why're we stoppin'? We can't be there yet." Ron asked.

"I don't know." Harry responded as he looked towards the window, watching it as frosted over. "But it might have something to do with the Dementors." Harry said solemnly.

"Dementors, what they doing here?" Ron squeaked

"I don't know." Harry repeated.

Ron squeaked again, Neville quietly cowering pressed back against his seat, Hermione stared at Harry with wide eyes.

"Can you do a patronus, Harry?" Neville asked quietly.

"A what?" Ron asked.

"It's a charm that keeps away Dementors, Ron. Do you ever read?" Hermione chided.

Ron huffed.

"Well can you do one then?" He asked, as if repeating Neville's question would make it seem like he knew what he was talking about.

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'? It beginning to look like you're the only person powerful enough to defeat You-Know-Who and you can't even get rid of a Dementor?" Ron complained.

"I'm not sure if it will even matter, Ron. I doubt that the Dementors have been sent to attack students." Harry responded harshly.

"But why can't you do a patronus?" Hermione asked, curious about Harry's apparent weakness.

"Can _you_ cast a patronus?" Harry asked her.

"Well, no, but," She began, but Harry cut her off before she could even attempt to explain.

"Well then why should I have to be able to cast one?"

Hermione looked at Harry opening and shutting her mouth, not sure how to respond.

The truth was that Harry had tried to learn how to cast a patronus, but he hadn't been able to succeed for a long time. He tried and tried, thinking of any moment that he had been even the least bit happy, but nothing seemed to be enough. And then finally, in a fit of frustration, he found his happiest moment and cast the most brilliant corporeal patronus. But the memory he had to use to get it hurt too much, when it was all over. It hurt too much to ever remember being so happy but knowing that he could never have that happiness again. It had been the last time that he had been so overcome by emotion that he had actually cried. And so, he swore that he would never cast one again if he could help it. He would never put himself through that again if there was not another option.

"But you know how to do it in theory right, just in case?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, technically." Harry muttered.

"Then why don't you say you know?" Neville whispered.

"You know how a patronus works Neville?" Harry asked, looking at the boy trying to make him understand.

"You have to be hap—" Neville stopped and looked at Harry sadly. "Oh."

"Is it just me or is it still getting colder?" Hermione asked.

"It's definitely getting colder." Ron said, wrapping his arms around himself and shivering.

"One's probably getting closer." Harry murmured, leaning towards the widow to the corridor outside the compartment, rubbing away the frost that covered the window so that he could see out. But all he saw was black.

"Everyone, get down on the floor facing the wall, put your head in between your knees and cover your head with your arms. And try thinking happy thoughts too." Harry commanded.

"Would that really save you from a Dementors kiss?" Ron asked.

"No, but it couldn't hurt. Now get down." Harry snapped

Ron and Hermione both looked as if they might question his orders, but quickly followed Neville in doing what Harry said. Harry followed his own orders as he heard the compartment door squeak open.

Harry felt the cold and the darkness envelope him and he felt a hand on his shoulder, a hand so cold that it burned. He was pulled backwards unable to fight against the burning cold hand, out of his huddle and fell onto his back, staring up into the hooded face of the Dementor as the coldness and the darkness seemed to envelope him completely.

Just as he began to feel he would not even be able to muster a cynical smirk again, he heard a voice cry out.

"Expecto patronum!"

And for a second there was light, before everything went dark.

* * *

"Harry, Harry, wake up. Are you alright?" A girl's voice said frantically, shaking him.

"Yeah, I'm alright." Harry mumbled as he tried to sit up.

"Oh, thank goodness. Here have this Harry." Another voice said.

Harry's eyes focused and he looked around to see Hermione looking at him worriedly while Lupin held something out to him.

"Chocolate?" Harry asked as he took the offering. Lupin nodded and Harry nibbled at the corner.

"You cast the patronus?"

"Well I couldn't very well let my best mate's son be kissed, could I?" Lupin said as he sat down across from Harry.

"Like he'd be too upset," Harry scoffed. Lupin looked a little startled at Harry's bluntness, but then his look softened.

"You don't mean that." Lupin sighed sadly.

"I know." Harry said softly.

"So how does a great wizard such as yourself not know how to cast a patronus?" Lupin asked in curiosity.

"I can cast one if I have to." Harry admitted softly, glancing at Ron and Hermione who both crossed their arms over their chests and glared back at him, while Neville just gave Harry a knowing look. Harry turned back to Lupin and pleaded at the man with his eyes not to ask anymore, and thankfully Lupin understood and nodded.

"Well, I should go talk to the conductor about this." Lupin said before he got up and left.

"Why do you think the Dementor attacked you Harry?" Hermione asked after Lupin shut the compartment door.

"I don't know. Maybe they just don't like me. Maybe they have an alliance with Voldemort and he's sent them after me. Maybe I'm just so happy that the Dementor just couldn't resist me." Harry said sarcastically.

Neville laughed and Ron and Hermione looked at him like he was insane. Neville immediately stopped laughing and shrugged.

"I think I'm going to go change into my robes then." Harry announced.

"Right. I'll do that too." Neville said, getting up from his seat to grab his trunk.

* * *

Harry walked into the Great Hall for the welcome feast when he ran into someone.

"Oh, excuse me." Harry said as he looked down at the smaller person that had run into him.

He found a very nervous looking Ginny Weasley staring up at him.

"Oh, Ginny." Harry said as he titled his head at the horrified girl. Was she still terrified of him? He had bothered to save her and all.

"I-I'm sorry Harry." The girl stammered and Harry furrowed his brow.

"Don't worry about it, Ginny. Go have a seat and watch the sorting." Harry said as he pushed her towards the Gryffindor table. The red headed girl nearly fell to the ground as he touched her and Harry grabbed on to her to keep her upright.

"You okay? Should I get one of your brothers to take you to the hospital wing or something?" Harry asked as he pulled the girl back to her feet.

"No, I'm alright." Ginny said quickly as she hurried away from him.

Harry sighed and shook his head. _What on earth was that about?_

* * *

Harry read the directions on the board in potions class. They weren't even right. Snape was such a git. You'd think that a teacher wouldn't deliberately try to make his students fail, even if he had no interest in helping them succeed. If you were going to make a shrinking solution what actually reduced anything at all instead of just turning the proper shade, giving you hope that you may have done it right before it exploded and made everything around you get just a little bit bigger just to really rub it in that you've screwed up, you certainly would not want to follow the directions on the board. The daisy roots would need to be minced, not chopped; the shrivelfig would need to be peeled, not sliced; the calipers would need to be sliced, not skinned; you needed to add a rat spleen, not a mouse kidney; and you needed a dash of leech juice, not a drop.

But Snape wasn't going to cause him to fail though, he knew better. He would at least have to try harder to make him fail.

Harry followed the directions he knew to be true and made a near perfect potion, but to his surprise, not one persons cauldron blew up.

In fact, everyone else's potions were looking a bit greener than Harry's.

"Don't you think we should test out your pathetic little concoctions?" Snape asked. "Longbottom, why don't you try yours? I have the antidote right here." Snape produced a stopped vial from his robes pocket.

Harry was alarmed. If Neville had made his potion as instructed to do so on the board, then it would kill him. Did the man know that Harry knew the potions were wrong, did he want him to try to save Neville and then somehow turn it back on Harry, making fun of him being a hero? No, Harry would not give the man the satisfaction. If the man didn't want to kill off of his student and ruin everything that his Dark Lord had surely worked so hard to set up, then the man would have to admit that he was wrong.

But what if this was an attack by Voldemort? What if he had gotten that desperate that he was going to just have Snape poison a student? It wasn't as dramatic as Voldemort's usually moves, but what if he had gotten that desperate?

Harry looked at Neville, who was just about to drink his potion.

_Oh, Merlin, he doesn't even stand a chance._

"Neville, wait." Harry yelled across the room.

"What could possibly be the problem Potter?" Snape snarled at Harry, a sinister smile just barely pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"Professor, I don't think that's a good idea." Harry pleaded.

"It's alright Harry, I think I actually did it okay this time." Neville reassured as he downed the potion.

For a second Harry's heart stopped as he waited for Neville's demise. But instead, the boy just shrunk, until an infant lay crying were Neville once stood. Not, even just an infant, but a particularly small infant.

"But," Harry gasped.

"I know, Mr. Potter, I'm shocked too. Mr. Longbottom appears to have earned full marks today. Probably for the first and only time in his career at Hogwarts." Snape drawled, still faintly smirking at Harry. "Why don't we see how your potion turned out, Potter."

"Right. Okay." Harry said, still very confused as to what had just happened. Harry ingested the potion and waited.

After a moment he shrunk, but only found himself about a foot and a half shorter, as was supposed to happen.

"Well then Mr. Potter, you've somehow managed to reduce the potency of your potion. I don't understand how you, the Great Harry Potter, could manage to botch a potion that even Mr. Longbottom could make successfully." Snape said as he poured an antidote into the infant sized Neville's mouth, leaving a fully size Neville awkwardly sprawled out on the floor.

"I made it as to the instructions in the textbook." Harry mumbled.

"Indeed. But the directions I gave you were my personal modified version to increase the potions strength. I am generous enough to give you the instructions that I spend years slaving over trying to perfect, in order to help you with a potion that is often requested on the OWL's, and you don't even bother to take advantage of the opportunity?" Snape said before he turned with a flourish of his robes and went back to stand before the class. "Class dismissed." He snapped and within seconds the entire class had cleared out, leaving just the shorter Harry standing behind.

"Professor, I need the antidote." Harry said softly, not particularly proud at having to ask the man for anything.

"Why, Potter. You clearly are a potions master, knowing so much more that I, why don't you brew the antidote yourself?"

"I would, but I don't have access to the ingredients needed and I don't particularly want to be four feet tall for the week it would take the potion the brew." Harry said, trying to remain level headed about the situation, knowing that blowing up at the man would accomplish nothing.

"Why? That's hardly even a reduction upon your usual height." Snape smirked grew full size now.

"Oh, you're hilarious. But I am of average height for my age, I'll have you know."

"Indeed." Snape said curtly.

"Please." Harry tried.

"Please?" The man said with a wicked grin.

"Yes _please_. I've already spent enough time with masochistic old men, and I'm not going to spend a week in your lab brewing the bloody anecdote. You don't need to see me beg anymore than that."

"Masochistic old men? My, my, what did you do over the holiday, Mr. Potter?"

"Trained with vampire who was a little too attracted to my power. It's not as if I gave in to his perverted fantasies, don't get too excited professor. I don't like you at all, none the less like that." Harry said as he approached the man, trying his best to stand as straight as possible and not look so tiny.

"Oh, don't flatter yourself Potter. But a vampire, really?" Snape said looking slightly interested.

"Yes, really."

"And why are you telling me this, Potter?"

"Because, for some reason you seem to keep my secrets, not to mention the fact that this vampire informed me of the effects of my magic on dark wizards."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, apparently it's, what were his words? Oh, orgasmic."

"And I have never been so embarrassed and ashamed in my entire life, Potter." Snape hissed.

"Good." Harry said tersely. "Now the antidote?" Harry asked one more time.

"I don't have it." Snape admitted simply.

"What?" Harry said in exasperation.

"I gave the last of it to Mr. Longbottom. I have another batch brewing, but it will not be finished until tomorrow." Snape explained.

Harry's face scrunched up in frustration as he tried to figure out how to respond.

"Then I will be back tomorrow." Harry stated before he spun on his heel and walked out of the classroom.

"It should be ready after dinner, Mr. Potter. You can pick it up when you serve your detention for disobeying my instruction and showing a professor disrespect." The professor sneered.

Harry gritted his teeth and continued out the classroom door.

* * *

**A/N: It's a miracle, I have nothing to say.**

**Up Next: Lot of fun with Harry, Snape, and the Weasley twins. Could you think of a more amusing combination?**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

It was the first Hogsmead weekend of Harry's third year and by some miracle Harry had convinced his parents to let him go, even though an auror wouldn't be holding his hand the whole time. Harry had made them see reason and finally gotten them to sign the permission slip. The place was crawling with Dementors, there were several aurors stationed that, and it would be broad daylight, after all. And they were only really being protective because they felt that they were supposed to be, anyway, Harry knew. Because they didn't want a child who was more powerful than they were, they wanted a child who wrote home about how boring herbology was, struggled in transfiguration, collected chocolate frog cards, and was the seeker of the Quidditch team, preferably the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and would need their loving protection from scary dark lords who were out to get them.

They pretty much wanted him to be Ron Weasley.

_Oh, the horror._

Hogsmead weekends were not the type of thing that Harry would usually care about, so he thought that he had mostly surprised his parents into saying yes when he put up a fair fight when they tried to say no to signing his permission slip, but he needed to pick up some things throughout the year, and this weekend had proved to be particularly important

Firstly, he needed more books on Arithmancy, because the class was even harder than he thought it would be and sometimes things didn't make sense to him when he was actually asked to do them, even though they had seemed perfectly manageable when he had read about them. He was hoping Tomes and Scrolls would have some sort of Arithmancy workbook that he could do practice problems out of.

But secondly, and most importantly, he needed to stop by Zonko's to see if they had anything not so cheesy and obvious that he could use to exact revenge on Professor Snape. He had had Draco nearly suffocated before he had gotten his point across that anymore baby talk from him or his gang was really not funny. Apparently he had not been striking fear into the other boy enough, to the point where the blond perhaps thought them to be friends who could tease each other. Harry had even put up with it while he was still actually the size of a toddler, deciding to give Draco something just this once because he had used him as a guinea pig all last year, after all. But after Harry had been grown back to his normal size and he had found a baby blanket that was covered with stuffed bears riding brooms on the end of his bed, Harry had decided he needed to take evasive action, and had charmed the other boys tie to choke him every time the blonds voice rose to the frequency required for baby talk.

He had also of had to threaten Ondula and Forshue that he would start only bringing them owl pellets to eat if they ever let anyone get near any of his stuff again, as they had simply continued on lazing about when the crime had been committed right under their noses.

"_But it was such a cute little blanket, little prince."_ Ondula had hissed.

"_We thought someone was returning it to you. We did not even realize that it was not yours." _Forshue had hissed with a snaky grin. Harry then transfigured the blanket into icebox, throwing both of the snakes bitterly into it before storming off, coming back twenty minutes later to thaw out the close to death and very apologetic reptiles.

Harry didn't know if Zonko's would have anything subtle enough to make an acceptable prank for the professor, but he was desperate enough to try. He was not interested in turning Snape pink or making his voice high pitched, or even causing the man to shrink to the size that Harry had been. No, he wanted something that no one would know ever happened besides Snape. Something that Snape could never prove was Harry's fault. Something that the man couldn't even prove was a prank set by anyone and wasn't merely some sort of cosmic joke that the professor just happened to have been unlucky enough to fall into.

So, Harry made his way into the world famous joke shop, desperately hoping that no one there would feel the need to comment on his choice of Saturday afternoon shopping destination. He began to quietly peruse the shelves, trying to find something that would suit his revenge needs. After spending what Harry assumed must have been several hours but was really not even forty-five minutes searching the joke shop, Harry let out an exasperated sigh.

"Can't find what you're looking for?" A voice asked and Harry tensed.

"Perhaps we can help?" A similar voice offered.

Harry thought for a moment at the offer before responding, turning to face the bouncing Weasley twins.

"Maybe." Harry admitted, and for a second Fred and George looked a little surprised, but then both of their faces quickly morphed into giddy, mischievous grins.

"What are you looking for?" One twin asked.

"Yes, what kind of prank is the Great Harry Potter hoping to pull? I always assumed that if you wanted to harm or embarrass someone you'd know just use a jinx or perhaps strangle them." The other concluded boldly.

"Well, in most situations I might." Harry said darkly. "But I was hoping for something subtle, something that could not be traced back to me. Something that wouldn't even essentially be made out as a prank, but perhaps just a bit of bad luck, a more self inflicted embarrassment." Harry divulged.

"And who, may I ask, will fall victim to this little folly of yours?" Twin number one asked.

Harry looked around before dropping his voice and hissing.

"Snape."

The twin's grins grew.

"A little payback for turning you into even more of a midget?" Twin two asked, ruffling Harry's hair to draw attention to the fact that the older boy was a good foot taller than Harry. At the contact, Harry's eyes darkened and he glared at the offending twin.

"Right. Sorry." Twin two said quickly as he backed away from Harry with his hands up in surrender.

"But yes. But I don't want to turn him Gryffindor colors or subject him to a dungbomb. It has to be something subtle, something that he would think is all in his head, but still kind of linked to me in some way."

"All in his head, you say?" Twin one said with a particularly mischievous grin.

"But Forge, that hasn't even been tested yet! It'll take years to work all of the kinks out!" George exclaimed.

"But perhaps, dear Gred, with a little help from the most powerful wizard alive we could speed up that process." Fred suggested.

Harry cleared his throat, hoping that would bring their attention back to him and cause them to tell him exactly what they were alluding to.

"Right, okay, so how about we meet somewhere more private Harry to discuss this. We think we may have something that will work for you." Fred said.

"Alright." Harry resigned, accepting the short wait before he would be clued in to what they had in mind. "Come to the classroom 402-B after dinner tonight. I best be going now." Harry said, referring to this year's classroom, relocated once again just to be safe, with a dismissive wave before he left the twins and walked out of the joke shop and made his way back to the castle.

And he wasn't even attacked by a Death Eater or anything on his way. In fact with any luck, he himself was going to attack a Death Eater himself, and they would never even know what hit them.

* * *

That night after dinner, Harry sat in his classroom waiting for Fred and George to show up so he could let them through the ward without them facing near electrocution and then forgetting everything that's happened to them in the past several hours.

Harry heard his wards activate and he went to the classroom door to open it for the twins.

"Hullo Harry!" The twins said excitedly in unison. Harry noticed that each of them carried a box in their arms.

"So what have you brought for me?" Harry asked as he walked over to the professor's desk that sat at the front of the room that Harry had claimed for his own.

"We've got here the makings of our Daydream Charm." One twin proudly announced.

"We think that we're going to patent it, once it's finished of course." The other twin concluded.

"Daydream charm?" Harry questioned.

"Yeah, it sets the user into a thirty minute day dream. Or at least that's the goal anyway, I think what we have right now won't last for more than fifteen, though." A twin explained.

"And why would this make a great prank for Snape?"

"Figured you could use it on him during a class. Supposed to set the user into a bit of a stupor."

"They will probably even drool."

"It'd be embarrassing for Snape to wake up to find a class for a student's looking at him in confusion." The twins finished and Harry contemplated their offer.

Well that did sound pretty untraceable and Snape would never be able to prove anymore than that he was up too late the night before brewing a potion. But it wasn't the kind of thing that would really embarrass the man, just sort of discombobulate him momentarily before he made up for it by giving detention to the entire Gryffindor side of the class, plus Harry himself for good measure, detention.

"Is there any way I could control what the dream was about?" Harry thought allowed. The twins both cocked their heads and looked at Harry in fascination.

"Well, we don't know." A twin admitted.

"We hadn't thought of that."

"Maybe, we've never considered it."

"Well, maybe I could help if you could explain how your charm works, and then I see if I can figure out something." The twins nodded eagerly and began emptying things out of their boxes while they explained the magic behind their charm.

"That's actually rather brilliant." Harry said in awe. The magic that the twins had explained was complex, not something he had expected them to be capable of.

"Well don't look so surprised." One Weasley said, before he looked at his twin for a second.

"Okay, be surprised." They admitted in unison as they spun back to face Harry.

"I was wondering if perhaps we could infuse a memory into the charm that would serve as the dream." Harry said.

"A memory?" The twins asked.

"Why would you do that?" One elaborated.

"I think that I might be able to construct a memory for Snape, one that will thoroughly humiliate him. " Harry said and the twins looked at him in contemplation for a second before the devious grins returned to their faces.

* * *

"Harry, wait, we have one last thing for you," Twin one said as Harry made his way away from his classroom.

Harry and the twins had spent the last week working on their daydream charm and had finally perfected and tested the finished product for use, and they were now in the countdown to when their plot would begin.

"On your quest for vengeance on the bat of the dungeons." Twin two finished, holding out something that looked to Harry like a folded piece of parchment. Harry took the paper cautiously and examined it.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Harry asked, holding the paper up to the twins as he arched his brow.

"It's the marauders map. Suppose that you should have it anyway, being related to an actual Marauder and all." A twin explained.

"Yeah, we've gotten enough use out of it already, memorized all the secret passage ways like the back of our hands."

Harry looked at the parchment again. He had heard stories of the map. Sirius often complained that such a fine piece of handiwork had been confiscated and was never seen again.

"I should have expected you two to have this." Harry thought aloud, grinning a little bit. "Dad and Sirius would be thrilled to know that it's been put to good use." He admitted.

"I bet they'd be even more proud to know that you're going to use it to pull the prank of the ages on one Severus Snape." The twins grinned.

"Probably," Harry laughed airily. "But you aren't going to tell them, right?"

"Oh no, we would never think to betray the Great Lord Potter."

"So I'm a Lord now?" Harry scoffed.

"Make a better one than You-Know-Who."

"I'm not really into taking titles that I have no real claim to." Harry jeered.

"I'm pretty sure our Great Aunt was married to a member of the muggle royal family."

"Yeah, that must make up like a thousandth in line to be Kings."

"So if You-Know-Who ever succeeds in killing off a significant portion of the population of muggle Great Britain and we're crowned Kings,"

"We'll give you a proper title and then you can save us all." The twins finished dramatically. Harry decided that telling them that both of them could not be king, as just one of the many problems and impracticalities that lay within this plan, was particularly important right now and conceded instead.

"Right. You do that." Harry laughed again as he shook his head.

"So what is it again," Harry said as he tapped his wand at the map."I solemnly swear that I am up to no good?" Harry questioned and writing began to appear on the parchment. The twins smiled and grinned.

"And when you're done you just have to say, 'Mischief managed.'" The twins informed Harry in unison.

"Right. Great then. Thanks for all the help with everything. Someday when I've taken over the world I'll spare your lives because of this." Harry said sardonically.

"So you admit it then?" A twin squealed, bouncing as he pointed at Harry. Harry shook his head and smirked before he left the twins behind to speculate about what they could do if they were to become the official ministry pranksters after Harry took over the ministry and proclaimed himself Prime Minister.

* * *

Late that night Harry snuck out of the Slytherin dorms under his invisibility cloak, with the Marauders map in his hands, watching as Snape's footprints left with Filch's from Snape's quarters on the map.

The plan had officially been set in motion.

The twins had been deployed to serve as a distraction, breaking into the potions classroom to create a mysterious disturbance that that Filch had been forced to report to Snape, having absolutely no idea how everything had gone pink and sparkly and how the how room now echoed a twinkling sound.

The twins of course at this point were already back in the Gryffindor common room, probably alluding to the brilliant prank they had just pulled, with proud grins, as they were sitting down to a game of exploding snaps.

Harry made his way down the corridor and found the portrait that he knew to be the entrance to Snape's quarters. He released some of his dark magic so that it fogged the painting before muttering an opening charm. Thankfully, the portrait swung open without any extra hassle, whatever sort of warding that Hogwarts protected the portrait with being weakened enough by his magic to be able to open the door with an Emancipare, and he didn't have to take any more drastic, possibly more violent and noticeable measures.

Harry made his way through the portrait hole into Snape's quarters, which looked rather like he had expected them to. The room before him was dimly lit, sparsely decorated, and showed Snape to be a firm believer in organized chaos. Harry went over to a coffee table that was in front of a rather uncomfortable looking couch, as Snape surely never wanted any sort of company that he may have had to be encouraged to stay too long, and a slightly more comfortable looking arm chair. The coffee table was covered with books, and Harry began to skim over the titles, wondering what exactly a man like Snape liked to read.

Most of the books were about potions and Harry didn't find any of the titles to be too exciting. But one book, carefully placed on the edge of the table closest to the arm chair caught his eye. There was something about the book that didn't look quite right to Harry. The cover claimed it to be a book on household cleaning charms, which judging by the state of the apartment were clearly something that were not too often used. But the irony of such a book was not what didn't seem quite right about it.

Harry picked up the book and quickly realized why.

The book exuded dark magic.

And then, right before his eyes, _Madame Clarisse's Cleansing Castings_ transformed into a copy of _Magick Moste Evile. The book must have been charmed so that the book would only reveal itself to someone who possessed dark magic,_ Harry reasoned.

Harry knew about this text. He had stolen Hogwart's copy from the restricted section a week ago and the book currently sat in the in Harry's heavily warded classroom under a charm similar to this one.

_So, whose copy was this? _

Books like this did not sell at the Flourish and Blotts, there were actually only supposed to be very few copies of this book. Three, actually, it was believed. That was the number of copies that Godelot had originally made and those three copies were heavily enchanted so that their contents could not be copied. One of these copies resided at Hogwarts, the other was located somewhere deep within the ministries libraries, and the third was rumored to be located in Voldemort's own personal library.

So either Snape had gotten someone, probably in the form of the elder Malfoy, to steal the book from the ministry for him, or Voldemort had lent out his own personal copy to the Hogwarts professor.

Either way, it was terribly curious and for Snape to have been given the book to read under such circumstances, it must have been terribly important.

But Harry would have to think about the implications of all of this later. Right now, he was on a mission.

Harry glanced back down at the map to see Snape's footprints briskly coming back towards his quarters and Harry quickly crouched down by the edge of the armchair, making sure that he was fully covered by the invisibility cloak.

A few moments later the portrait door swung open and Snape stormed in, muttering under his breath to himself about weasels, glitter, the illegality of unforgivables, and several particularly foul but undetectable poisons. Harry stifled a scoff, as he knew the man would never actually bring harm to either of the Weasley twin's, at least not for this anyway. The man really could be such a drama queen sometimes. Sure, he could be scary as hell in certain situations if he wanted to be, but most of the time he was really more similar to a puffer fish, only really harmful if you got too close to, but pretty funny looking from a distance.

The puffed up professor collapsed into his arm chair and deflated a bit, reaching down to pick up _Madame Clarisse's Cleansing Castings_ from the table. Harry watched as the book transformed in the professors hands. The professor opened the book and Harry noted with curiosity the section that the man had flipped to. It was a section on cursing items with particularly dark and deadly curses.

_Well, that certainly cannot be good._ Harry thought. But, right now it was not Harry's job to prevent Snape from cursing all of his potions ingredients and killing off an entire class of students. Snape would never do something so rash and obvious, anyway. While the goal of Snape's reading material may be to help him be able to kill or at least seriously maim someone, Harry figured he would have some more time to look into suspicious behavior on the man part over the next few months and did not have to worry about taking action right this second.

No, right this second he was going to take his revenge. His unfortunate hero complex could wait.

Harry silently rose up and positioned himself behind the man's chair, making sure that his cloak still covering him and he did not create any sort of disturbance that might draw attention to himself. Even still, Snape looked up from his book, and looked around the room for a second with his eyes narrowed and glaring, clearly hoping to have the effect of a basilisk on anyone or anything that might have caused the ever so slight shift in the carefully controlled atmosphere that was the potions professor's chambers.

After a moment though, Snape slowly settled back into his chair and looked down at the text before him. In that moment, Harry carefully removed a small glass sphere from his pocket. He slowly moved his hand so that it was still covered by the cloak to orb was raised above the professor's head. Then, Harry quickly lowered the sphere so that it was held in from of Snape's face and flicked the cache on the side of the sphere so that it snapped open, allowing a mist of magic and memory to waft out and be inhaled by the professor as he gasped in shock.

"What?" Snape asked as he saw the mysterious glass orb appear in front of him, but before he could do anything else, his eyes fluttered shut and he slumped back into his chair.

Harry pulled off his cloak and went to stand in front of his professor, a satisfied grin on his face. Harry watched as Snape became lost in the 'memory' that Harry had spent a great deal of time constructing out of his real memories.

Snape himself had actually given Harry the idea himself, in that conversation Harry had had with the professor back while Harry was still the size of a small child.

_I have never been so embarrassed and ashamed in my entire life, Potter._

Harry had taken the most perverted interactions with Krv, but superimposed Snape in the place of the vampire in every single one of them, and infused the altered memory in with the magic of the twin's charm.

Oh, the professor would be absolutely mortified.

Harry desperately wanted to stay until the man woke up to see his reaction, but if he didn't leave while the man was still out cold, he knew that he would be stuck in the man's quarters until morning and greatly increased his chances of being caught red-handed. So, he took one last look at Snape, who was now drooling, and smirked before he pulled his cloak back over himself and left the potions master's chambers.

* * *

Harry went to potions class the next day, and Snape showed no signs of embarrassment of the little dream that he had had last night, which Harry had completely expected. The class ended without any particular abnormalities and Harry made to get together his things and leave when Snape's voice rang out across the room.

"Potter," Snape called dryly. "Stay behind a moment." He commanded.

The rest of the class cleared out quickly, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Draco looking back at Harry sympathetically but none of them willing to stop or say anything as they hurried out of the room.

"Professor?" Harry asked as he approached Snape's desk.

"I had not known that along with aligning yourself with my godson you have extended the ranks of your little army to include a certain pair of Weasley's." Snape sneered.

"I'm hardly creating an army, sir. I've been told that you are supposed to make friends while in school." Harry responded innocently.

"If I know anything about you at all, Potter, it's that you don't have friends, you have followers who are too stupid or arrogant to see their true ranking within your life." Snape said.

"I take it the Weasley's, Neville, and Hermione are stupid while Draco is arrogant?" Harry asked, matching the professor's dry tone. The professor nodded lazily.

"Loyalty to family and all that, Potter. Something that you don't appear to understand."

"Where exactly my loyalty lies is none of your business, professor. Now, if you don't have anything else to say to me other than question my life choices, I think that I'll be going." Harry said snidely and began to turn on his heel.

"Potter," Snape growled. "I do not believe that I have dismissed you."

Harry turned back to face his professor and raised his eyebrows, silently questioning the man as to his intentions.

"I know that you are responsible for last night." He growled.

"I did hear a rumor that Fred and George did make this classroom a little more, er, girly." Harry practically snickered. "But I was not involved, if that's what you are referring to. Not really my style." Harry shrugged.

"Indeed, Mr. Potter, I am very aware that that pathetic excuse for a prank is not your style. Which is why it only served as a distraction for your real bit of mischief last night."

"Oh? That's quite impossible, professor. But the twins will be upset to know that you think so little of their handiwork. But I turned in early last night, actually. Had some lovely dreams about turning you into a toad and cutting you up to use in a potion. But you can hardly punish me for a dream, can you professor?" Harry said, a taunting smirk beginning to tug as his lips.

"You're an awfully liar, Potter." Snape growled.

"Are you calling me a liar, sir?" Harry growled back, glaring at the professor.

The staring contest between the two continued for a few moments before Harry felt something tickle the edge of his mind.

_Oh, no you don't_, Harry thought as he narrowed his eyes at the professor who was trying to make his way into Harry's mind. Harry quickly shoved the presence out of his mind before initiating a counter attack, shoving himself into the professor's mind, breaking down all the man's carefully built barriers as if he were forcing himself through a particularly thick hedge instead of a steel wall.

Harry forced his way to the very back of his professors mind until he found some of Snape's most guarded memories. Thankfully, the ones of Harry releasing his power lied here. There were also some memories from Snape's childhood that Harry didn't really care to touch.

Harry had figured that Snape's childhood wasn't exactly happy. You don't become driven to Voldemort just because you're in Slytherin. Harry knew that Snape was a half-blood, and was not raised with the same values of pure blood superiorities that the Malfoy's and others of Voldemorts followers had. Harry had always figured that that hatred came from some sort of poor relationship with his father, probably even got knocked around by the man a few times by the muggle as a child. The man would have developed the kind of hatred of muggles that drove him to follow Voldemort because of this. But Harry had no interested in watching a drunken muggle scream at Snape or whatever these memories surely held. He held no sympathy for the man either way.

Harry also saw a glimpse of a memory with his parents. Harry had heard about that memory, the memory that he had been told was the defining moments when Snape officially turned to the dark, having once been childhood friends with his mother and relatively ostracized within Slytherin for not being a wealthy pureblood. Perhaps if this memory did not exist Snape would even be a member of the Order or something. But that was not how the situation had played out and Harry never wasted any time what if-ing.

But deep in the darkest most protected corner of Snape's mind, another memory lay. It seemed newer, probably only a few months old. Harry also heard his name in it, which caught Harry's curiosity. Harry latched onto the memory in interest, finding Snape talking with Lucius Malfoy in what appeared to be some sort of study.

_"You know something, Severus." Lucius stated._

_ "I don't know what you are referring to." Snape said, picking up a book from the large desk in the room and leafing through it._

_ "Do not try to fool me, Severus. I know you better than that. There is something that you are trying to hide." Lucius hissed as he encroached upon Snape. Snape snapped to book shut and looked up at the other man._

_ "Do you think He knows?" He asked so softly that it was barely audible. Lucius stepped back from Snape quickly and casually straightened out his jacket, which was clearly a nervous tick. A very Malfoy nervous tick to have too, one that was hardly noticeable in most circumstances, one that was perhaps often mistaken as haughty boredom instead of insecurity._

_ "No, no of course not." Malfoy reassured as he picked a piece of link off of his jacket sleeve. "You would not be standing here if He did. I have known you since you were eleven, Severus. I have come to know when you are hiding things." Lucius explain quickly. Snape nodded. "So, what is it then?" Lucius asked as he looked back up from jacket to look Snape in the eye_

_ "I cannot burden with having to keep secrets from our Lord, Lucius. I would not want to put you in that position." Snape said in response._

_ "Severus, if there is something that important I wish to know what it is. Do you not trust my Occulumency abilities to be as strong as yours?" Lucius asked, finishing with the famous Malfoy touch of arrogance. Snape looked at the blond man with resignation._

_ "It's Potter." Snape said. _

_ "Potter? You told our Lord that you did not know anything about the boy." Lucius said rather dumbly._

_ "Well I lied, obviously." Snape drawled matter-of-factly._

_ "What do you know about Potter?" Lucius asked breathily._

_ "He is powerful. Incredibly powerful. And he is not just powerful, but he has to knowledge to back up his power. He knows more about defensive magic than the entire ministry auror department combined and his power at its full extent is surely greater than our Lords power is at this point. It's all the charismatic dark power that He had at the height of his power plus some awe inspiringly powerful light magic, and an ability to use them bother together in ways which I did not believe to be possible."_

_ "Then why do you keep the information of His greatest enemy from Him?"Lucius murmured._

_ Snape looked at Lucius with an expression on his face that Harry could not interpret in response._

_ "You wish to betray out Lord to follow a child? He is Draco's age, not even thirteen!" Lucius hissed lowly, clearly trying to keep his distress over the situation from drawing the attention anyone outside of the study._

_ "I do not wish to follow a thirteen year old. But he is too powerful for our Lord to want to kill him outright. If he thinks that Harry is simply a dark prodigy trapped on the light side he may try to recruit him instead of killing him. Potter's power is too great to be wasted because our Lord is insecure." Snape explained in the same hushed tone as Lucius._

_ "But he's a Potter!" Lucius hissed in exasperation._

_ "He's only a Potter by blood. He is his own entity in all other respects. And, looking at how things were played in the chamber, I believe that any allegiance he still had towards Dumbledore has been lost." _

_ Lucius looked at Snape desperately._

_ "What are you planning to do? You will be a dead man if He ever finds out that you kept this information from him." _

_ "I will do nothing. And so you will. I have no plans on interfering on the things that will surely occur between our Lord and Potter. I plan on enjoying the show." Snape smirked sardonically and Lucius returned the politician mask that had fallen off during the conversation._

_ "Yes, yes, of course." Lucius mused as he sat down behind the desk. Snape reopened the book that he had been holding and both men looked as if nothing had happened._

The memory ended and Harry pulled himself out of his professor's mind to find himself staring at Snape who had a rather curiously unexpected expression on his face. He did not look as if he was about to curse Harry all the way to China. Instead he simply began to calmly speak.

"Well, I have seen some of your memories after all, Potter, so I guess it is only fair that you've seem one of mine." The professor smirked, looking rather unaffected by the assault on his mind. "That's what they were, weren't they? Very clever though, the way you reconstructed them."

Harry stared at his professor in shock.

"Yes, clever, er, thanks." Harry mumbled, unsure of how to respond to Snape given the new information. "Why?" He managed to ask.

"Why what, Potter?" Snape asked, looking rather bored.

"Why are you as loyal to me as you are to Him?" Harry asked.

"Do you think that I should not be?" Snape responded tersely.

"Er, I don't know."

"Well, with that kind of response I might change my mind, Potter. You nearly having me believing you to be a child again." Snape drawled and Harry stood up a bit straighter and returned a dark, determine look to his eyes in response.

"I'm hardly a child." Harry snarled.

"Have I really not given you enough proof to show you that I know this, Potter?" Snape hissed.

"No, professor, I had become a bit confused after you decided to shrink me back to the size of a child." Harry hissed.

"Oh, forget about that Potter. You brought it upon yourself with your own arrogance." Snape snapped.

"Whatever, professor. I think I understand now. If we are finished?"

"You are dismissed, Mr. Potter. I expect you to continue to live up to the high expectations that I hold for you." The professor murmured as he waved his hand dismissively.

"Yes, of course sir." Harry said before making his best efforts to walk out of the classroom swiftly and proudly instead of stumbling slowly out of it in a confused daze as he was more apt to do at the time.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry that this took longer than usual. I'd be all author-y and tell you about how I had horrible writers block or be all human and tell you how I was terribly busy, but by some miracle I don't really ever get writers block and I've actually been sick so I've been lying around doing as little as possible. I really just didn't feel like writing. But the traffic stats on this story have dwindled away to practically nothing and I really should pull this story out of the great abyss that is Harry Potter fanfiction and update for you guys, so I did. Plus, it was extra long. And Snape-y. :)**

**P.S. Puffer fish are highly toxic when eaten unless prepared properly by a highly skilled and knowledgeable chef. The metaphor really does work on sooo many levels :P (And not all of them even have to be dirty…)**

**P.P.S. I'm now picturing a very haughty Snape casting a puffer fish patronus while Harry and Voldemort both role on the ground laughing as Snape scowls down at them and the patronus puffs itself up.**

**P.P.P.S. On a less funny note, the internet has just notified me that Richard Griffiths has died. While I'm not quite so sure I'd miss Vernon Dursley, the man who played him so brilliantly will be missed greatly.**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"Are you doing alright, Harry?" A voice asked Harry gently.

Harry looked up to see Lupin standing over his desk. He had been packing up after defense and hadn't noticed that the rest of the class had already cleared out.

"Er, yeah. I'm alright." Harry said as he stuffed his defense book back into his bag.

"You've seemed a little out of sorts recently." Lupin elaborated.

"I've just had a lot on my mind, that's all."

And Harry had. Ever since his new found whatever the hell it was with Snape and Harry's discovery Snape's potential plot to curse someone, or multiple people, Harry had been trying to sort through a lot of different things. He really wanted to know why things couldn't ever just make sense in his life, instead of having to waste so much time plotting, scheming, researching, making decisions over the lives that always seemed to hang in the balance.

"Okay, if you're sure."

"You don't have to check up on me, you know. Because your friends with my dad or whatever. You don't owe me anything." Harry said suddenly. Lupin looked at Harry a bit taken aback.

"I know." He said after a moment. "I'd ask any student if they were okay if they acted the way you acted sometimes." Lupin tried to explain.

"Well, I suppose." Harry shrugged. "But would any other student ever act the way I act sometimes?"

"Well, no. But if you were you but named Neville Longbottom I'd still ask if you were okay."

"But if I were named Neville Longbottom I wouldn't act the way I do." Harry reasoned.

Lupin tilted his head at Harry, trying to make sense of the boy.

"So you're telling me that you are who you are because you're Harry Potter?" He asked finally, it seeming to be the most relevant response to the conversation he was having.

"Yes, I guess I am."

"Right. Well, good talk. Uh, keep up the good work and all that." Lupin nodded as his voice dwindled to nothing as he tried to figure out the significance of what Harry had just said. The thing was, no one really knew why Harry was the way he was, his parents didn't even seem to have a clue. One does not just become they way Harry was for no reason at all, by some fluke, as Harry had just confirmed for perhaps the first time ever.

"Yeah, right Professor. Thanks for your concern, I'll see you around." Harry smiled and nodded his head with an imitation joviality before he slung his bag over his shoulder and left Lupin behind to wonder what could have possibly happened to Harry Potter that made him Harry Potter.

* * *

"You've been hanging out with those Weasel twin's a lot lately." Draco Malfoy stated as he sat down next to Harry in the common room one evening.

"Er, not really." Harry said, stubbornly refusing to look away from his book.

"It seems as if you have." Draco pushed on.

"Well, I haven't." Harry stated, still keeping his focus within the text.

"You seem rather friendly with them." Draco continued and Harry slammed his book shut with and exasperated sigh as he shifted to face Draco.

"So?" Harry asked pointedly.

"So, I was just wondering if there were any other implications of being friendly with those weasels." Draco spat.

"It's not as if I'm cheating on you with them. Get over yourself, Malfoy."

"That's not what I was implying, you prat." Draco hissed.

"Oh, I'm a prat? I should be honored, considering you're the king of them. Are you knighting me?" Harry asked sardonically.

"As if you'd be so worthy." Draco jeered. "So they aren't your new best mates or anything?" He finished with a sudden calmness.

Harry sighed as the blonds insecurities became clear to him.

"You know I don't have best mate's Draco. But no, you don't have any sort of competition and that's not an indication of me becoming the savior of the light or starting a third front to the war that plans to conquer the world through a few well placed pranks."

"Good then. You had me worried that I'd find you with a box of dungbombs hidden under your bed."

"Merlin, no. I would have thought you'd know that that is definitely not my style."

"Ah, yes, I heard something about your brilliant little prank on my godfather over Christmas." Draco drawled, reclining against the couch, folding his arms behind his head.

"Snape acknowledges the Christmas holiday?" Harry raised his eyebrows as he watched the Malfoy cockily accomplished feeling relaxation.

"Hardly, my mother insists that he comes over for dinner on Christmas Eve, just about throws a fit every year when he tried to refuse every year. You think they'd get over the game of it. He does always get me a present though. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person he ever gets a Christmas present for. They are always practical and he usually insists that he's just given me an old book that he's decided he's read enough times or a potions ingredient that he was accidently delivered too much of. But I know he does actually put a little bit of thought into it and goes out and buys me something. He's really not the son of Morgana like everyone makes him out to be assuming that you manage to not be a moron in his presence. But I heard him and my father whispering about you of all people in my father's study, caught my attention of course."

"Oh?" Harry drawled.

"Yes, something about your unusually powerful Occulumency and Legilimency powers."

"Oh, that Snape. Such a gossip." Harry said sarcastically and smirked playfully at the blond.

"Potter." Malfoy snarled warningly.

"What?"

"You've never told me that you're a Legilimens." He hissed.

"I've never told you a lot of things, Malfoy."

"Potter." Malfoy snapped again.

"I've been working on both over the summer and my tutor helped me master my skills over the summer. It's not a big deal."

"And then you used them on my godfather." Draco stated pointedly.

"Only after he tried to legilimize me first." Harry defended childishly.

"And you still live?" Draco mock gasped.

"I know. I still can't figure it out myself." Harry shrugged.

"You never cease to astound me Potter."

"A high compliment coming from you, Malfoy."

Draco smiled arrogantly as he tipped his head back to further lounge into the sofa while Harry reopened his book, shaking his head and smirked at the other boy's pompous wit.

* * *

Another week went by and Harry found himself in the defense classroom, stranding in a huddle of the other third year Slytherin and Gryffindor students.

"Today class, we will begin our study of boggarts." Lupin began. "Now, can anyone explain to me exactly what a boggart is?"

Hermione's hand shot up into the air.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"A boggart is a shape-shifter that takes the form of whatever its viewer fears most." Hermione explained.

"Very right, Miss Granger. Now within this wardrobe a boggart is sitting within the darkness and has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears."

"You mean you're gonna let it out?" Ron squeaked, probably much louder than he intended.

"Buck up, Weasley. You're really afraid of a silly little boggart?" Draco scoffed.

"No one's afraid of a boggart. They're afraid of what it pretends to be Malfoy. What are you afraid of?" Harry reasoned softly.

"I'm not afraid of anything." Draco stated.

"Well, I guess we shall see, Mr. Malfoy. Would you like to go first?" Lupin interjected.

Draco's eyes widened as he looked at the professor.

"I-I don't think it's worth it, the boggart will get confused." Draco stuttered dumbly.

"Ah, of course, Mr. Malfoy. But all of you will have to go eventually if you wish to learn how to defeat a boggart. Why don't you all line up so I can teach you the Riddikulus charm?

The class quickly formed a line, all trying to push someone else to the front in the process, anyone but themselves. Malfoy quickly made his way to the back of the line and Harry slipped in behind him unnoticed.

Harry watched as a terrified looking Neville turned put the Snape boggart into his grandmother's clothes and let out a small laugh among the hysterics of the rest of the class at the completely undignified looking death eater that cowered before them in embarrassment. Neville went to the back of the class and stood next to Harry, looking very relieved.

"Brilliant job, Neville." Harry nodded at the other boy and Neville smiled and nodded back in response.

Harry watched as the other students fought off their boggarts as the class continued through a cycle of gasps and laughter with every go. Eventually, despite his best efforts to try to become invisible, Draco Malfoy was called forward to face the boggart.

He raised his wand trying to look confident as Lupin opened the wardrobe. Out stepped Lucius Malfoy, looking just as imposing as usual. That didn't really surprise Harry, Draco being afraid of his father. It also didn't surprise Harry when the boggart shifted into a cloaked man that must have been the only image Draco had of Lord Voldemort, even though that was more than most people had. It did however surprise him when he suddenly saw himself standing before Draco Malfoy.

The class gasped and quickly looked back and forth between the real Harry and the boggart Harry, before settling their fascinated stared upon boggart Harry as he spoke.

"No." The boggart Harry sad flatly to Malfoy and the blonds eyes widened and his wand dropped to the floor in surprise.

And then suddenly Harry found himself pushing Draco out of the way as he stood to face himself. The boggart dropped to the floor and twisted into the mangled body of an eleven year old girl in response to Harry's presense.

But then the girl was gone, and Harry found himself looking out from behind Remus Lupin towards a full moon that was quickly turned into a balloon before the boggart was slammed back into the wardrobe.

"Was that Ginny Weasley?" Someone whispered from within the crowd of students.

"Why would it have been Ginny?" Another whispered in response.

"Because he saved her in the chamber last year, went down there just for her." Another voice said with a kind of knowing authority that Harry knew that they did not actually possess, but were only pretending to have.

But his gossiping classmates behind him did not concern him at the moment.

"Professor, may I be excused?" Harry asked, not even bothering to receive an answer before he flew out of the classroom, leaving a crowd of whispering students and a very confused Lupin and Draco Malfoy behind him.

No one even noticed Neville Longbottom's sad, knowing expression as he stared at the door Harry had left out of and back to the spot on the floor where the body of the girl had laid.

* * *

Harry had gone into hiding after that class and no one had seen him for several days. He had skipped his classes on Friday and had not shown up for meals all weekend. At night his bed lay empty and his usual spot in the corner of the library lay empty in the evenings. The Weasley twins had gone to Harry's classroom to see if they could find him hiding, but after having their eyebrows singed off, even after using some advice given to them about getting past wards from their brother Bill, they found the classroom empty.

So when Harry walked into the Great Hall Sunday evening the room fell silent before whispers began to fill the air.

Harry seemed to ignore everyone as he glided over to the Slytherin table with an new imposing prowess that was a new development in Harry's saga of becoming increasingly terrifying. Over the past year Harry's perfect posture had developed into a sort of proud swagger that could be seen in Harry's walk that while didn't make him exactly approachable didn't exactly cause anyone to want to go running when he walked by them.

But now, Harry walked more like Snape, a quick elegant glide that left robes billowing out behind him, complete with a new hardened dark look in his eye that seemed to be darker and more permanent than the occasional flashes of darkness that could be caught in the past.

Wherever Harry had spent the past few days, he clearly had not spent it in careful meditation trying to calm himself.

"Harry, where the hell have you been?" Draco whispered at Harry from across the table as nervous whispers, surely all speculating about Harry continued to echo around the room.

Harry ignored Draco and looked up to the table at the head of the room were the staff sat. He saw most of the professors looking at him with concern. Snape, however, was looking at him only with curiosity. It was exactly as Harry had expected it to be.

"Potter." Draco snapped and Harry turned to glare at him momentarily before he looked down to a roast that sat in front of him and began to serve himself. "I-uh-are you," He stuttered. "I'm not afraid of you, you know." He finally stated, unsure of himself considering Harry's ignorance of him.

"No, you're afraid of me rejecting you, which is even more curious." Harry said as he looked rather bored as he twirled a piece of roast around on his fork, examining it carefully.

"I'm not afraid of you." Draco reiterated. "I don't need you, you know." Draco fumed as he watched Harry push the roast off his fork and back onto his plate with a look of disgust. "What, have you become a vegetarian?" Draco spat and watched as Harry spoon some mashed potatoes onto his plate.

"No, it just looked dry." Harry explained, still not looking up from his plate.

"Look at me!" Draco yelled suddenly as he stood up from the table, slamming his hands down on it in the process, drawing the attention of most of the Great Hall, except for Harry. Draco didn't even seem to notice though that everyone in the Great Hall was now staring at him.

"Always one for dramatics, are you?" Harry said as he spooned some peas onto his plate, still not looking up at Draco.

"Oh, look who's talking." Draco down closer to Harry and hissed at him.

Harry rose from the table and matched Draco's position.

"What is wrong with you, Draco? I thought you were better than this." Harry stated as he straightened out his back and stepped over the bench. "Have you no discretion? I would have thought that your father trained you better than this. That I trained you better than this. But you're nothing but a child."

"And you aren't? I'm older than you Potter, in case you've forgotten. You want to call me nothing? You're nothing but a filthy half-blood. I don't know who you stole that power of yours from, but it doesn't belong to you." Draco's voice dropped to a whisper. "You're nothing, nothing compared to Him. He's going to kill you Potter. And no one will even miss you. You'll get an article in the Prophet about the tragic loss of the son of Lily and James Potter. Maybe you'll even become the new icon for the light, their raison d'etre, reason to pick up their initiative in this war for a little while. But then, you'll be forgotten. No one will remember you; no one will know you, know your power. You'll be nothing but the son of a mudblood." Draco finished, his eyes flickering with rage.

Harry looked at him with an unreadable expression on his face and Draco's confidence visibly faltered. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, he spoke, his voice carrying an eerie coldness.

"No." Harry stated and watched as Draco paled. "You couldn't be more wrong. I thought you had gotten past that foolish blood superiority complex. I shouldn't have expected more from you."

And then, he turned and walked out of the Great Hall, robes billowing behind him, leaving nothing but stunned silence in his wake.

* * *

"Oh, Harry, I'm sorry." A voice said as a body collided with Harry as he made he fled from the Great Hall.

Harry ignored the voice and stepped around the person, trying to continue on his way, when a hand grabbed onto his arm.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, Ginny." Harry hissed as he pulled his arm free and continued walking away.

"Wait, Harry, please wait." Ginny called as she ran behind Harry, grabbing his arm again.

Harry turned to look at her, his eyes dark and dead looking, which was extremely uncharacteristic for their usual bright green and the change made Ginny gasp.

"I-I just never really thanked you for saving me." She stuttered, still startled by Harry's expression.

"It was nothing."

"Saving me is hardly nothing." She said softly as she tightened her grip on Harry's arm and stepped closer to him, resting her other hand on his chest.

"No, really. It was nothing. It didn't mean anything." Harry said as he tried to pull back, only to have Ginny take another step back with him.

"Of course it meant something, Harry. You saved me. You went in the chamber and you saved me from him. You didn't have to do that."

"Yeah, I did. I needed to stop him. Saving you was just a side effect. Don't make me regret it." He hissed before he forcibly pulled himself away from her.

"Harry." She said softly as she grabbed back hold of him and began to raise herself on her toes up to his face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Harry yelled as he ripped himself away from her once and for all.

"I-I was, I- you love me, right?" She stuttered, although she looked rather determined.

"What on Earth are you talking about? Where did you get that idea?" Harry snarled as he straightened out his robes with a look of disgust on his face.

"The dead girl that you're afraid of, that was me, wasn't it? You're afraid of me being dead. That must mean that you love me." She reasoned, her determination faltering with Harry's response.

"You stupid girl, is this what you waste your brain doing? Making up silly little fantasies based off of wild assumptions about things you know nothing about." Harry snapped.

Ginny's eyes began to cloud and her lip stuck out in a pitiful pout.

"Oh." She said while tears began to spill over. Harry's eyes softened just a fraction as he looked at the crying girl.

"I'm sorry Ginny. I shouldn't have yelled at you. It's just not like that, I'm sorry." He whispered and found himself wrapped in the smaller girl's arms and she sobbed into her chest. Harry patted her back awkwardly, gritting his teeth and he fought not to hex her arms off.

"I should have listened to Lavender." She muttered. "You don't even like girls, do you? You're just too nice. Of course you saved me; it was the right thing to do. You always do the right thing Harry. You're so nice; you just want everyone to be alright." She sniffed into Harry's robe before pulling back and wiping her eyes. "So what, is it Draco then?"

"What are you going on about now?" Harry tilted his head and furrowed his brow as he looked at the youngest Weasley.

"You're gay right? You and Draco have a thing, right? I mean, I guess he is kind of attractive, but beyond that I don't know what you could possibly see it him." She said bluntly.

Harry's jaw dropped.

"So the only reason I could possibly not be head over heels in love with the perfect Ginny Weasley is because I'm gay?" Harry sputtered in response, unsure what else to say and what level of insult he should take.

"Well, no, but I mean, you're always with Draco. And he's hardly any good at hiding his affection for you. Everyone assumed that it was one sided though, that you were completely oblivious to him."

"Draco and I are not even friends none the less," Harry raised his hands in frustration as he tried to find an appropriate word. "Lovers!" He finally exclaimed in exasperation.

"Well, I would hope you weren't lovers, thirteen is a bit young for that." Ginny chided. "I mean, we did think you may have spent a great deal of time snogging in a empty classrooms with him, but I don't think that makes you lovers."

"I think you're missing the point." Harry groaned in frustration.

"Okay, okay. You aren't gay and are not in any sort of romantic relationship with Malfoy. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't feel anything you."

"The only thing in me that Malfoy is attracted to is power, Weasley. I was training him in defense. Doesn't make Malfoy gay either. I'm sure he's already arranged to marry Parkinson or something anyway."

"Well of course he's going to marry some snobby pureblood woman someday. But that's just it, he's attracted to power, had a right crush on the boy who's supposed to be more powerful than Voldemort of course. I mean, rumors have been going around for ages that Lucius has had affairs with Voldemort. Draco's only following in the footsteps of his father." She smirked and Harry glared at her in response.

"Whatever." Was all Harry could manage to spit out. "It's all just gossip and rumors. And Malfoy and I just had a bit of a falling out anyway. I doubt that he feels anything other than disdain for me anymore, not that he ever did." Harry defended. "You used Voldemorts name." Harry suddenly realized.

"Well, he did try to kill me. Figured that I might as well, you know. Being afraid of him certainly isn't going to save me from anything."

"Well, Tom tried to kill you in the end. He's a bit different than Voldemort." Harry shrugged.

"It's all the same person in the end. Different names, different times, but in the end he's still Him."

"Yeah, I guess. But good for you. If only you could get some more of your family willing to say his name. Believe it or not, he is deserves to be called by his name, whatever one you like, but by his name. He's not a Lord and he's not something to be feared unless you let him be. But he is Tom Riddle. He is Voldemort."

"Well, I can try, but you know how stubborn all of them are." Ginny grinned.

Harry scoffed.

"Yeah, you're telling me."

"Well, I should probably get going then. Sorry for accusing you of being in love with me and Malfoy."

"I might forgive you. Just don't do it again." Harry smiled a little, his mood a thousand times lighter than it had been a few minutes ago.

But then, suddenly Ginny screeched and jumped over to Harry and cowered into his chest, and Harry sighed a bit in exasperation.

"Really, Ginny, I thought you said you were over me." Harry said as he pushed the girl away from him. She quickly pulled away from him and straightened out her robes.

"Sorry. I saw a rat. That's what my boggart would be honestly, so we're even. I absolutely hate rats. Not as much as Ron is terrified as spiders, but it's pretty bad." She admitted.

"A rat?" Harry asked, his slightly more lighthearted mood vanishing completely.

"Yeah, a big ugly brown one." Ginny elaborated as she nodded furiously at Harry, as if the furious movement of her head would prove that she was telling the truth.

"Of course." Harry muttered.

"Of course what? What's the matter Harry?"

"Nothing, it'll be alright. Just something that I'll have to deal with."

"Are you sure? That crazy evil look has returned to your eyes."

Harry sighed.

"Yeah, Weasley, sometimes I just wish I could go a year without having to battle one of Voldemorts minions. It's about time that I meet him face to face."

"That doesn't sound alright, Harry."

"Eh, it is what it is." He shrugged. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a rat to track down."

"Er, alright. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, hopefully you will." And with that Harry disappeared down the hall, leaving a rather stunned looking Ginny standing alone in the corridor.

* * *

**A/N: Hello, sorry traveling, life, etc. I feel like this is terrible and so is everything else I've written lately, even though I was originally really excited about all of this. The fact that I'm losing more followers than I'm gaining and I've gotten one review for the last chapter isn't helping me reassure me (Although thank you to the one person who did review, I do greatly appreciate it and am glad that at least one person doesn't think this is terrible). If this sucks, could you at the very least tell me so I stop wasting my time or so I can try to make it better? I really do like feedback and when you guys tell me what you like and don't like it really helps me keep characters in character and not write in a lot of things that you may really hate if they aren't really necessary. Most of what I do I do for a reason, but there are some things that I just write because it's what comes to mind. It's okay if you don't like where the stories gone, but if you're not reading because the writings gotten worse than it already was or you feel I'm being unnecessarily cruel to a character you love or unnecessarily nice to a character you hate, I'd like to know. Sorry to be all whiny...  
**

**Slightly altered quote taken directly from the books, if you picked that up, is obviously not my writing, but borrowed because I could not say it any better.**

**Up Next: Bare with me, okay. We're almost to Voldemort. First we have to deal with the rat.**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

_Where are you Peter?_ Harry thought as his eyes scanned over the Marauders map, looking for footprints with the ex-marauder turned Death Eaters name above them.

Peter Pettigrew was not someone Harry wanted wandering around Hogwarts. Nothing good would come of it, he was sure. Hatred of Peter Pettigrew was about the only thing his parents seemed to be able to pass down to Harry, besides his green eyes and messy dark hair. Peter Pettigrew was not only a traitor, but he was a coward. He did not change sides because he believed in Voldemorts ideals, but because he only had interest in being on the winning side.

That was not something that Harry was okay with. You stand up for what you believe and you fight to the death supporting it. Changing your beliefs is one thing, but not believing in something enough to be willing to die for it was another thing entirely.

While he was not sure whether his beliefs made him light or dark, and he was not sure which side his beliefs put him on in the war, he had his beliefs and he was doing his best for fighting for them. If that drove him back and forth between Dumbledore and Voldemort, hitting every spot in between, then that was fine. But if he ever ended up a Death Eater, it would be because it was a step in the direction of fighting for his cause, not because it looked like Voldemort may win and the order would lose.

And even if he wasn't sure he would ever stand fully on the same side as the Order, or on the side of Death Eaters for that matter, he could respect both. They believed something and would fight to the death standing for it. Peter Pettigrew would not. He would beg for mercy and pledge allegiance to whoever was about to kill him. And not even as part of some greater good, an attempt to buy more time to rectify the situation in a way that couldn't effectively be done beyond the grave, simply because he feared death.

_There you are, you squeaky little traitor._ Harry grinned as he found little foot prints with the name Peter Pettigrew floating above them scurrying across the map towards the entrance of the school.

_You're not getting away from me._

Harry jumped off the desk that he was sitting on in his classroom, grabbed his invisibility cloak, and ran out of the room to find the rat. It had grown late, and the hallways were nearly empty as most students had retired to their common rooms for the night. The only thing Harry really had to worry about running into was a professor, a student returning from a late night at the library, Mrs. Norris or a prefect who takes their job a little too seriously.

A few minutes later, Harry stood in the entrance of the school, staring at the map, watching as the Peter Pettigrew footprints disappeared off the edge. Harry quickly unfolded the map further to see the rat scurrying across the grounds towards the Whomping Willow.

"Bloody Hell!" Harry cursed under his breath as he looked around to make sure Filch or anyone else wasn't around before he slipped out of the front doors of the school, unlocking them with an unlocking charm with complete disregard to any sort of great and powerful Hogwarts ward that was supposed to prevent against that sort of thing. It was nice being him sometimes. Harry didn't particularly like having to follow the usual rules.

He made his way across the grounds and down towards the vicious tree, staring at the map all the way, following the footsteps of Pettigrew. As he approached the tree he saw the rat as it hopped up onto a notch in the bark of the willow before he scurried into a passage way that opened up in the trunk of the tree, disappearing from view. Harry unfolded another portion on the map to find a passage marked on the map that Pettigrew was now scurrying through, muttering a few more select epithets in surprise.

_A secret passage way? Perhaps I would have spent more time talking to dad if he could've told me about secret passage ways off the Hogwarts grounds, instead of rambling on about broomsticks and the excitement of being an Auror. He's spent all this time telling me about the Chuddley Cannons and stories about Moody when he could have told me something that was actually useful. _ Harry thought as he followed the rat down into the trunk of the tree, narrowly avoiding a whack from one of the branches, and hoping that perhaps this wasn't some elaborate plan to read him right into the hands of Voldemort.

There was absolutely no way that Pettigrew was that clever, though. Or perhaps this was a terribly dumb move on Harry's part. Or Harry was just about to be incredibly unlucky. That was always a possibility.

_Ah, well. Keep moving forwards and deal with what comes along. Seems to have worked for me so far, or at least kept me alive anyway. _

Harry raced through the tunnel wondering if it would ever end when eventually Peter Pettigrew's footprints run right off the map, followed by his own. Soon enough though he saw a pair of stairs at the end of the tunnel and followed them up to Merlin knows where.

_Please let there not be an army of Death Eaters. I'm not in the mood to deal with an army of Death Eaters. _

Thankfully, he found himself in a rather shabby looking room that was very empty. What little furniture there was was broken, torn, stained, faded, or molding. The floor and the wall had seemed to have forgotten long ago that they were supposed to the perpendicular to each other. And then there was the ceiling, which seemed to be ready to collapse at any moment and was completely covered in cracks and holes. Looking across the room out of a broken window, Harry saw the faint twinkling of lights that was the village of Hogsmead. _A secret passage way that lead to the shrieking shack? _Harry concluded. _Interesting. Why have I been hiding out in classrooms when I could have fixed this place up a bit? Ah well, later._

"Peter Pettigrew. Wh-where are you. Please come out. I-I only wish to speak to you." Harry stuttered, turning to the task at hand and feigning fright. "Please, Mr. Pettigrew. I don't know who else to talk to." Harry looked around the room but didn't detect any movement, man or rat. Hopefully the traitor was still here and hadn't already fled down into Hogsmead to apparate away.

"Please, if you're here. Look, I'll put down my wand." Harry placed his wand on the floor and then kicked it so it rolled across the room. "See, now I can't even try to attack you. Not that I'd be any match for you anyway. It's all a big misunderstanding you see; I'm not really all that powerful. Just because I do well in school and managed to live a couple times that I shouldn't have because of dumb luck doesn't make me great. It's all been an act you see, people began to see me as the great and powerful dark wizard, so I figured I'd play the role. But I'm scared now, now that He's after me. I really don't pose a threat to him. You have to understand. It's all a misunderstanding." Harry paused and looked around the room again. He stretched his eyes big with fear and frowned and pouted his lip out a little bit in worry to complete the act.

"I-I don't want to die. You understand that, right? You were friends with my parents. You know, if you protected me, maybe they'd even protect you. Things have changed since you switched sides, you must realize. Your Lord is not all the he once was. He's still powerful enough to k-kill me of course, but the Order is strong, Dumbledore is still strong. But even if you don't want that, if you wish to still serve H-him, then you could still help me. I don't want to die, Mr. Pettigrew. I don't want to die." Harry sobbed, dropping to his knees to express his supposed anguish.

"You're a foolish child, Harry Potter." A voice said as a large shadow enveloped Harry in the moonlight. Harry smirked victoriously before he twisted his face back into a pained expression and let out another sob.

"I know. But you'll help me fix everything, won't you Mr. Pettigrew?"

"Oh, I'll fix everything alright." The man said before laughing nervously. "Oh, yes, I'll make everything better."

"Oh you will!" Harry gushed as he flung himself around to wrap himself around the rodent like man. _This is for the greater good._ Harry thought as he held his breath and embraced the man who apparently didn't believe in bathing regularly. _Merlin, I'd rather be hugging Snape._ The man awkwardly patted Harry on the back and allowed him to fake sob into his chest. _At least Snape would have the sense to shove me off, call me an insolent brat, slap me upside the head and then threaten to curse me, and then actually do so if I didn't look completely remorseful for being such a pathetic little child. Put me out of my misery._

"It will be alright, Harry. You can trust your Uncle Peter." _Trust you to build up enough courage to kill me before you run away to seek the reward of getting rid of the increasingly elusive Harry Potter._ Harry thought as he began to lessen his sobs.

_Enough._ Harry thought as he pulled away from the man and smiled up at him darkly, carefully tying the man up with golden yellow magic as he did so.

"Why are you Hogwarts?" Harry hissed and the man, shocked by the sudden change in tone tried to reach for his wand out of his robes pocket, only to find that he could not move his arms.

"Wh-What are you doing, Harry? What are you doing to your poor old Uncle Peter?" The man asked nervously, trying to maintain a hint of innocence in his tone.

"Oh, shut up. I don't even call Remus and Sirius my uncles, you really think I'd give such affection to a coward and a traitor like you?" Harry spat as he pushed the Pettigrew to the ground, where he fell the ground like a plank of wood, unable to move any of his limbs to brace the fall. _Well more like a tree trunk, perhaps he's a stress eater._

"I don't understand, Harry. What would you want with me? I'm nothing but a servant. I'm just like you. I've made mistakes, just like you." The rat man explained in a hurry with increasing panic in his voice as the magic constricted around him.

"Tell me what you're up to. And don't you dare think about trying to transform. I think I've got a good enough hold on you." Harry enunciated as he further constricted the magic.

"I'm just following orders. Just. Following. Orders." The man choked out as the magic pulled even tighter.

"What orders?" Harry hissed.

"You're just like Him, Harry. Like a snake." The man bit out between gasps for air.

"Yes, and the fact that I'm a Slytherin snake squeezing a rat just like some sort of boa constrictor is not lost on me. I'll have a nice little chuckle about it all later. But right now you have some information I want. What are you doing at Hogwarts?"

"I'm just supposed to survey the grounds!" Pettigrew gasped and Harry lightened his hold ever so slightly. "Trying to figure out how to do some damage. Kill Dumbledore, kill students, maim some professors, convert the allegiance of some house elves, find passage ways into Hogwarts. Anything that will leave an impact, make the Dark Lords power known once again." Peter explained between pants.

"Potter, is it your goal to die before the end of this year?" A voice drawled from behind him and Harry whipped around, pulling back his magic in the process.

"Severus! Oh, Severus!" Pettigrew screamed in excitement of his apparent rescuer. Harry quickly glared at the professor.

"Snape." Harry hissed.

"You really should learn to mind your own business, Potter." Snape said as he raised his wand. Harry raised his hand to the man.

"What are you going to do, Potter, slap him?" The slightly more victorious feeling Pettigrew chortled gleefully, although he slunk away from Harry and the potions master, a coward through and through.

"Stupefy!" Snape called.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry heard the words he thought echo from somewhere within the shack.

Snape was hit by the spell from both sides and he crumpled to the ground unconscious, revealing Remus Lupin standing behind him.

"Lupin?" Harry asked, but was distracted when he heard a small squeak as he saw a rat slip past Lupin and back through the passage towards Hogwarts.

Harry accio'd his previously wand as he got to his feet as he pushed passed Lupin and made his way after the rat, not willing to let the coward get away after all his efforts.

"Harry! Wait!" Lupin called.

"You take care of Snape, I've got Pettigrew." Harry called back.

"But Harry," Lupin tried to plea, but was interrupted by Harry.

"I'll be fine, trust me, please." Harry said, turning back around for a moment to look at Lupin as he spoke. Lupin sighed and nodded, turning back to the unconscious potions professor and Harry raced on.

Harry made his way back through the tunnel and back to the grounds, and looked around for any sign off movement before running again, narrowly missing another swipe of the willows branch.

_Accio Pettigrew! _Harry thought, not stopping in his run. Something small and hairy rammed into his chest and Harry fell and began to roll down the hill towards the forbidden forest because of the force, with a squealing rat bouncing after him.

Harry came to a stop at the edge of the forest, catching a screeching rat that flew through the air behind him.

"Got you." Harry grinned darkly as he held up the rat, eying his prize like a cat.

"Now, you think that I won't kill you, right? You've probably heard that I have some sort of savior complex. That I'm a child of the light and wouldn't hurt a fly. Well, maybe I'm not ready to kill a person in cold blood. But you, Peter Pettigrew, are nothing but a rat. Rats are killed all the time, used as test subjects for experiments, both magic and muggle. Cut up and used as potions ingredients. No one cares if a rat dies, Peter." Harry stated darkly.

"But I'm not a rat, Harry!" Pettigrew squeaked as he transformed back into his human form. "I'm a man, I'm a man who has made mistakes! You have mercy, Harry. Have mercy!" The man pleaded as he cowered before Harry.

"You're a rat. And not as a rat, you are a threat to all of the things that I care about, that are important to me. You are trying to mess with my education. You are trying to mess with innocent people for a cause none other than keeping yourself alive. As a man you are everything that I despise. And as a rat, you are rat. That is to say, nothing worth fighting for."

"You can't kill me! You'll be caught and sent to Azkaban! You may be a child, but no one will have any sympathy for a killer, even if he is a child."

"Who's going to know I touched you, Peter? Who is going to miss you? I've already gotten away with murder once, Peter. This funny little thing called self defense. All I have to do is whine and cry and say that I'm sorry but I was just so scared and Dumbledore is like putty in my hands. That is no reason for me not to kill you. And you've already forgotten that you're a rat to me, Peter. Any morality I may have doesn't apply to you."

"But," Pettigrew pleaded once again. The man cut himself off those as he looked towards an encroaching cloud of darkness and gasped. Harry ignored the distracted man.

"Enough. I'm finished with you. You've been running from death for too long now. Time to face your fear, Peter."

Harry held out his hand and thought the words he hated, but knew was time to try out.

_Avada Kedavra. _

And then Peter Pettigrew was no more.

Unfortunately, the approaching Dementors still were.

"He's gone!" Harry yelled. "There is no happiness left in him to suck out of him. There is nothing left of him." Harry cried, as if the Dementors were the kind of things that would listen to reason.

Harry cast a quick disillusionment charm over Pettigrew's body before he got up and ran, fleeing the Dementors.

But apparently their target wasn't Pettigrew, if it ever had been. It was Harry.

As Harry ran, more and more Dementors appeared before him, until he was surrounded from all sides by a cloud of black, bringing the already dark night to a pitch black.

_I don't want to. I don't want to, _was all Harry could think as he kept running, only to find himself staring up into the hood of a Dementor. Harry stumbled back and fell to the ground as the Dementors descended upon him.

_Maybe I've been happy enough, recently. Maybe I've been happier since the last time I've tried._ Harry thought with an optimism that was rare for him.

He conjured up and image of him joking around with Fred and George while he stuck his wand out into the blackness.

"Expecto Patronum!" He screamed as he played the scene in his mind, but only a faint pale yellow mist dribbled out of the tip of his wand.

He tried again, this time picturing sharing a smile with Neville.

"Expecto Patronum!" He screamed, but the light that shot out of him wand hardly seemed to faze the Dementors that were bearing down on him.

A Dementor began his kiss and Harry began to feel all of him motivation, all of his ambition, begin to slip away. He began to feel hopeless, worthless. Like he was nothing, like everything he had ever done was for nothing.

_I can't, I have to._ He thought as he pulled his happiest memory to his mind in desperate resignation. Grass, daisies, blue skies, and tinkling laughter filled his mind as he tried one more time.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry called as he smiled at the memory that overtook his mind. He was lying on the grass, looking at the sky. And there was laughter. There were no Dementors, just grass, daisies, and laughter blowing in the wind.

But then it was all gone. Harry opened his eyes, which he had not even realized he had closed, to blink up at a dark and empty sky to see a crescent moon peaking out of the clouds.

And he started laughing. Laughing like he hadn't laughed in years. He laughed wildly, desperately trying to imitate the laughter that had filled his head moments before. As if he could imitate it he could have it all back. He writhed on the ground, his laughter growing more insane sounding until the laughter turned to sobs, as he realized that he could never go back to that memory, that he could never have it again. He had lived for nearly eight more years since that memory and had still never felt that happiness, and he had given up hope of ever feeling that happy again a while ago. He couldn't have both happiness and fulfillment of his goals. He couldn't have both, and so he sobbed. He sobbed like he hadn't since the last time he had been reminded that he would never really be happy again. Since the last time he was reminded off all that was taken from him, all that he had to give up.

"Harry," A voice said softly.

Harry ignored the voice and pulled himself into the fetal position as he continued to sob. He felt unsure arms wrap around him as he was pulled against a learn chest.

"Sh, Harry, it will be alright. Everything will be alright."

"No it won't, not really." Harry murmured as his sobs stopped but tears continued to flow freely, as he clutched Lupin's chest, curled up on the grass with the man, showing weakness that he would soon regret showing. "How'd you find me?" He sniffed.

"Followed Snape out. I am an Order Member and he is a Death Eater after all. It's kind of the thing that I'm supposed to do. I didn't actually know that you were already two steps ahead of me in the evil fighting that needed to be done tonight." Lupin said with a small, but sad, smile. "You're just lucky that tonight wasn't a full moon. The shrieking shack was the place I went during school during my transformations to keep from hurting anyone. I've been going there again since I came back." Harry remained silent for a moment, not having anything to say to the man's admission, before he spoke again.

"What did you do with Snape?" Harry hiccupped.

"I took him back to the castle; put him back in his quarters. You'd think he have better wards." The professor chuckled forcibly and Harry nodded in agreement, managing to quirk his lips up momentarily for the smallest of smiles. "I figured it was the best thing to do right now, that we didn't need to cause any sort of unnecessary stir. Plus, I figured I should come back and check on you. But as always you managed to handle it better than I probably even could have." Lupin explained as he carefully ran a hand through Harry's hair, trying to comfort the usually incredibly cold and defensive teen.

"Thank you." Harry said softly. "I just want to leave him alone for now."

"He was going to curse a student, Harry." Lupin said seriously.

"It was a stupefy charm, not even dark magic. And I don't think Snape would hurt me even after he had me unconscious, not now, not like this. If anything he might have even been planning to protect me in the long run, although probably in a way that wouldn't look like it. He even gave me ample time to protect myself, though, like he wanted me to stop him. He spoke to me, announced his presense, when he could have just killed me while my back was turned to him." Harry explained with his voice alarmingly flat and dead with a matter-of-fact resignation as he pulled himself away from the Defense Professor and wiped his eyes.

"What happened to Pettigrew?" Lupin asked, decidedly changing the topic

"He's gone." Harry said, unwilling to say any more.

Lupin nodded, accepting the answer, a little too afraid of the implications of knowing any more than that, as he should have been.

"That was one powerful Patronus, Harry, for someone who refuses to practice them." Lupin stated, breaking the silence that had fallen over the pair.

"I knew I could do it if I had to. That was enough."

"I've never seen an owl look so ferocious before." Lupin grinned with forces joviality.

"It's an Eagle-Owl." Harry stated tersely before going into a surprisingly elaborate explanation. "Besides the snowy owl, you don't see a lot of those types of owls delivering post. Most people use Barn owls. Most true owls aren't native to Britain, and the ministry doesn't recommend that they be imported as they might bring concern to bird watching muggles."

"Then why an owl like that?" Lupin thought aloud.

"Some neighbors had some family on the continent and would send mail here with one. It was a pretty bad ass owl, would make journeys hundreds of miles without making any sort of fuss, just because its owner told it to. Pretty amazing loyalty owls have when you think about it."

"So you're, er, bad ass, not fussy, and loyal?" Lupin concluded, again rather unsure of himself and mostly thinking aloud.

"And free." Harry said, as he lay back in the grass, staring up at the sky. "Being able to fly, being able to take to the sky and go anywhere and never come back. They deliver mail because they want to, but they could do anything, go anywhere." Harry sighed wistfully.

"Free." Lupin stated as he lay back in the grass next to Harry, contemplating the new information boy that he had known since birth, but had never really known had just divulged to him.

* * *

**A/N: Hehe, thank you for not hating this. It means a lot to me :P But really I do like feeling like I'm actually writing for an audience, not just being too stubborn to quit and accept the fact that my story sucks… I don't tell you all individually because I'd worry that it would be creepy, but you all earn a "Thank you, love." Said in a British accent, of course (not that I am...) which is exactly what I murmur to myself every time I read a review that says something nice because I overuse terms of endearment. My dog will practically respond to 'love' or 'dear'. But anyway, don't be afraid to tell me in the future if you think that I've screwed something up. I can take it. Or if you really liked something, so I can write more of that sort of thing.**

**Up Next: Last chapter of the year, just need to wrap some things up. Have a body to dispose of and all that.**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"We should be getting back to the castle." Lupin suggested as he stood up from the grass where he had been lying.

"You go ahead; I think I'll stay here for a while." Harry replied as he folded his hands behind his head and stared up at the sky.

"You shouldn't stay out here all night. You'll catch cold."

"Warming charms." Harry stated as he waved a faintly glowing hand.

"Oh, right." Lupin fumbled, considering just turning around and walking away. But then he remembered that there were several years worth of the boys stored up tears staining his robes and he tried again, trying to remember that the boy was in the end just that: a boy, despite some of the things that he had done.

"You'll be the talk of the school if someone finds you sleeping out here in the morning."

"Let them talk."

Lupin sighed.

"You'll have to explain what happened to Dumbledore."

"Like I won't have to anyway."

"Harry." Lupin stated warningly.

"Alright," Harry conceded as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. "I'll be up to the castle in a few minutes. I think I left something in the grass when I was running from the Dementors. Go ahead without me and I'll be right behind you."

"Alright. I'll wait for you up at the entrance to let you back in. Although I suppose since you got out the Hogwarts wards seem to favor you even though they shouldn't."

"They favor me, eh?" Harry murmured as he stood up from the grass.

"Well, if I told you that you were stronger than thousand year old wards I worry that your ego will grow so huge it may crush you." Lupin admitted.

"I don't have an ego."

"Oh? Right then." Lupin said as he raised his eyebrows and shrugged, smiling a little. "Well, I'll meet you up at the castle. If you aren't there in fifteen minutes I'm going to notify you as missing to the headmaster and have every professor and all the upper year students searching for you within the hour." Lupin threatened as he began up towards the castle.

"Right. I'll keep that in mind." Harry muttered as he headed in the opposite direction from Pettigrew's body, only turning back after Lupin disappeared behind the wall of the castle.

Harry made his way back to where he left Pettigrew's body and removed the disillusionment charm.

_What should I do with you? Might as well get you back to the rat you are, _Harry thought as he waved his hand over the body and then reached down to pick up the rat corpse that remained afterwards. He then shrunk the rat down and conjured a small box, sticking the rat in the box and sticking the box in his pocket. Satisfied for the moment he made his way back up to the castle to meet Lupin, who was standing in the courtyard of the school with his hands in his pockets.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" He asked as he turned towards the school and walked with Harry up to the door.

"Yeah, I've got it." Harry said as he watched Lupin wave his wand over the castle door, causing it the spring to life as the complicated locking mechanism began to turn and the door slowly opened.

"Well, I should really get to bed. It's been a long day." Harry said as he stepped through the door and began the long trek across the castle to the dungeons.

"Yeah, alright Harry. We can deal with this in the morning." Lupin called after him.

"Yeah, sure, the morning." Harry muttered, hoping that maybe he could somehow figure out a way to make mornings cease of exist over the course of the night. He really didn't want to make a report to Dumbledore, his parents, and the rest of the Order over his most recent adventure. He was so tired of reporting to the Order.

A few minutes later Harry closed the door of the common room behind him and sighed. It was well after midnight and he had class tomorrow among the other things he had to deal with and he wanted to try and get a bit of rest before it all, since trying to outlaw mornings would only prove to be a waste of the night.

"Where the hell were you?" A voice called out from across the room. Harry looked over to see Malfoy sitting on a sofa in the otherwise deserted common room.

"Are we really going to do this again?" Harry said tiredly as he walked over to the entrance to the boy's dorms.

"Potter, wait." Malfoy demanded more than pleaded.

"Malfoy, I'm tired. I have things that I'll need to deal with tomorrow and I don't have the time or the patience to deal with you right now."

"Why won't you talk to me anymore? We were supposed to be allies, but the Weasley's know you better than I do." Draco whined and Harry closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of him nose. _Merlin, I'm turning into Snape._

"Our alliance works off of a series of exchanges. What have you given me recently, besides a few pathetic and incredibly low insults, that would be worthy of me telling you anything?" Harry asked as he leaned up against the doorframe of the dormitory, running a hand tiredly through his hair.

"I told you about my father and Severus talking." Draco tried.

"I already knew Snape and your father gossiped about me. And your gossip wasn't even particularly interesting. And you got me to admit that I know Occulumency and Legilimency in response to that anyway. You'll need something else to cash in."

"But-Isn't there something I can do for you?"

"Sure, Malfoy." Harry sighed as he quickly cast a silencing charm around them. Although the common room was empty and everyone probably fell asleep hours ago, he couldn't be too careful. "But if you do something for me in exchange for information instead of giving me information in exchange for information, you're no longer my ally. You'd be below me. You'd be a servant, a follower, the first of my own personal kind of Death Eaters." Harry walked across the room to where Draco sat and stood before him, causing Draco to rise from the couch instinctively as to not be belittled.

"You'd have to admit that you are in fact, less than me, not the other way around. You have to decide whether you want to be your father or if you want to be Voldemort, and you have to decide right now." Harry leaned forwards forcing Draco to falter a little bit in his stature. "Because I'm not going play games with you anymore. If you want to still be a child then that fine, that's what you are. But if you decide that you're willing to give up all of this foolishness for something greater, whether that is my image of greater or your own, then you're going to decide right now. Make your choice." Harry hissed conclusively in Draco's ear before he turned away from the blond and making for the stairs.

"Wait!" Draco called and Harry turned back to stare expectantly at Draco. "I'll follow you then." Draco said, staring at the ground.

"What?" Harry could not recall a time in his life when he was more surprised than he was right then.

"I will follow you, my Lord." Draco said, finally looking up at Harry.

"Really?" Harry choked at the use of the title.

"I'm never going to be a dark lord myself. But being the first follower of perhaps the most powerful wizard to live in a very long time, that would bring me more power than I could have ever hoped at achieve in a lifetime on my own. I mean, right now I'm on the fast track to become the joke of Voldemorts inner circle. I'd be there because of nepotism, but I'm not as strong as my father." Draco admitted, before quickly backtracking. "Not that I'm not as powerful, of course, just I'm just not really into groveling at feet of Voldemort."

"So you choose to grovel at my feet instead?" Harry asked skeptically.

"That the point. You'd never ask me to grovel. It's why you originally accepted me as an ally even though we've both always known that you are more powerful than me. You respect people in a way the Dark Lord doesn't. You hate the games that he loves to play." Harry looked at the blond surprise, before his look became pensive. This was not something he had expected to happen tonight.

"I'm not ready to lead anyone." Harry admitted finally. Draco smirked at this haughtily.

"Well of course. Your thirteen years old for Christ's sake. But you demanded that I stated whether I intend to follow you or oppose you. So I made my choice. Really, you are entirely to fascinating for me to waste both of our efforts in some sort of childish feud that would result if I decided differently. But even if you aren't going to start raising an army, I want to know what the hell it is your doing in the mean time."

"Fine, just never refer to me as your Lord again."Harry stated as Malfoy looked rather relieved. "If I sent something to your manor addressed to Voldemort, do you think it would get to him?" Harry asked, very much ready to change the topic.

"Probably, but it depends on what it is. I mean, even coming from you a letter that you sent would have to say something interesting enough that my father would not worry about being crucio'd for wasting Voldemorts time in delivering it." Malfoy stated, cocking his head in curiosity at the sudden change in direction of the conversation.

"Do you think that the body of one of his Death Eaters will be enough?" Harry asked bluntly.

"What the hell are you planning on doing, Potter?"

"Already done, Malfoy." Harry smiled devilishly.

"Really?" Draco couldn't help but gasp. "What have you done?"

Harry removed the box from his pocket and enlarged the box and unshrunk the rat's corpse before opening the box and showing it to Draco.

"That isn't?" Draco stopped and gasped again. "My father hinted that he was here, but he wasn't supposed draw attention to himself. Is he really dead?" Harry nodded.

"Well he scurried right through a conversation I was having earlier, nearly scared Ginny Weasley half to death. He was hardly coy."

"What are you doing talking to that Weaselette?" Draco snarled.

"You think you'd have a little more faith in me, Malfoy, being my most loyal follower and all." Harry snapped sardonically.

Draco glared back in response.

"It's my job to make sure your spending your time with the right kind of people, being your political advisor and all."

"Political advisor? I don't remember giving you that title." Harry drawled, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, it's my job isn't it? Always has been. Keeping you from making any hot headed stupid decisions? You've always been so reluctant to tell me things that you've managed to screw up more times than I can count, but might as well try to change that once and for all."

Harry sent a stinging hex at the blond out of spite before responding, while Draco whimpered and rubbed his shoulder where the hex had hit.

"I seem to be doing just fine. Now, will you help me sent off the rat or what?"

"Tell me why you were talking to Weasley first."Draco demanded. Harry scoffed and grinned knowingly.

"Oh, she was just disillusioned into thinking that I was in love with her. Quickly got her off the idea though." Harry said nonchalantly.

"Then what was with you fear of her being dead?"

"None of your business." Harry muttered and watched as Draco's face scrunched up in frustration.

"And then we went on to discuss these ridiculous rumors that are apparently going around in which it's believed that you are in love with me and that we go around snogging in closets." Draco's usually perfect pale skin reddened and Harry cocked his head at the other boy. "That's ridiculous, isn't it?" Draco sputtered for a second before composing himself.

"As if, Potter. You wouldn't be so lucky." He spat out arrogantly and he reclined back in his seat.

"Oh, I'm sure." Harry rolled his eyes and quickly looked the memories of this conversation into the back of his mind, not wanting them to ever resurface.

"Well, if you're satisfied Malfoy, I'd really like to try to get some sleep. We can deal with the rat in the morning." Harry stated, not waiting for a response as he made his way up to the dorms, Draco padding silently behind him. _Like a dog. My dog. My stubborn little puppy that needs some training. Oh, Merlin, what have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

To Whom It May Concern,

I do not appreciate the pathetic attempts to bring chaos to Hogwarts. Hogwarts is one of the finest institutions of Wizarding education in the world, despite its headmaster, and any attempts to destroy it are foolish. There are very few ways in which one would be able to successfully kill enough muggleborns to truly impact that light in a way which would not simply increase spite and their dedication to defeating the Dark Lord.

In my although amateur, but increasingly experienced opinion, as far as Hogwarts is concerned the only way to weaken the light through it would be to take it entirely. However, this would leave purebloods and any other only slightly tainted students that the Dark Lord would be willing to have mercy on, at a severe disadvantage as you would probably have to nearly destroy the castle and kill off many of the finest teachers in Britain in the process. It would be vain to think that anyone within the ranks of the Dark Lord's followers could as effectively educate students to the standards at which they are being educated right now, besides any already currently employed, even despite the schools lack of dark arts curriculum. Anyway, I have found that like I'm sure many of the children of the Dark Lords followers also hopefully have, that Dark Arts can be learned effectively through outside and independent study, and that issue is therefore hardly pressing.

Until you can come up with a plot to effectively weaken the light, not just anger them into a less idiotically thought out counter attack, I'd recommend keeping far away from Hogwarts. By not taking this advice, one would risk complete collapse of the Wizarding world as we know it and drive it to be more similar to some sort of third world muggle country where most of any subjects of this pathetic excuse for a kingdom would be magically literate imbeciles, only increasing in incompetence as time goes on.

It has always been my understanding that the Dark Lord wished to create an empire of strong magic, magic not tinted by the blood of muggles. However, without careful thought to the organization of this empire, with careful consideration of the damage that may be done to acquire it, will be worth nothing if in some pathetic fit of frustration Hogwarts and the Ministry for that matter end up virtually destroyed along with the many great texts and Wizarding technologies and all of the people who know and understand their contents also eliminated in the crossfire.

Now, maybe I make too many assumptions, but I have seen no actions from Lord Voldemort within my lifetime that are worthy of any greater respect. Sending a pathetic excuse for a rat wandering the castle desperately searching for any way to piss off Dumbledore or looking for any sort of way into Hogwarts is pathetic and will only result in the things that I have already mentioned. Even killing Dumbledore is impractical at this point. He, although still very powerful, doesn't appear to be the only one killing the pathetic excuse for a wizard that it appears that the once great and terrible Lord Voldemort has been reduced to.

I find it incredibly problematic that Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters have been reduced to a level of incompetence that they can be repeatedly thwarted, even killed, by a third year Hogwarts student. I'd recommend the aforementioned party get their act together or surrender, because his Merlin-be-damned war has been going on for much too long, and I, for one, am tired of it. The Dark Lords clear desperation shows that he is too. But the war is not to be won on poorly thought out and hurried plays. Best of Luck.

You-Better-Know-Who

P.S. I have attached a gift, I hope it sends the message that I intend it to.

* * *

"Potter, you will stay behind after class." A deep voice commanded from the front of the potions classroom amid the hurried crinkling of parchment being stuffed into bags.

A few days had passed since the night at the Shrieking shack and Harry had hoped that the situation had resolved itself. He had finals to worry about and he was tired of wasting his time giving reports to Dumbledore, sending off corpses of Death Eaters to Voldemort, and convincing Draco that there were some things that it was best if he did not know. He hoped that whatever Snape was holding him behind would be scolding him for using for much rat tail in that day potion and not questioning him about the fate of a certain rat animagus.

"It appears that you just don't know when to quit." Snape hissed after the rest of the class had cleared out, as he dragged Harry by the collar up to the small office that connected to the classroom.

Harry pulled himself away from the professor as he was pulled through the office doorframe. Of course at that moment, Snape had decided to let go, so Harry ended up flinging himself across the room and crashing into a bookshelf. He worked to straighten himself up, trying to regain some dignity, but before he could do so Snape was bearing down on him.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He hissed.

"No." Harry tried to say assertively, but failed miserably.

"No?" Snape breathed.

"No." Harry said again, this time with some successful force.

"Do tell me, Potter, you must have some sort of master plan then?"

Harry shrugged.

"I assume my package and the letter that accompanied it caused a bit of a stir?"

"You'll be lucky if you make it through the summer." Snape growled.

"Fine." Harry said with a level of decidedness that caused something to flicker in Snape's eyes.

"Fine?"

"Yeah, fine." With a dramatic swish of his robes, Snape spun away from Harry and took up a spot leaning against his desk to stare at Harry speculatively. "So, what exactly is it that you're planning on cursing?" Harry asked, figuring he might as well ask while he was being detained.

"You little sneak." Snape enunciated as he leaned back towards Harry again.

"Yes, I may have snuck into your quarters to give you a manipulated day dream charm and noticed a book that wasn't quite right and then saw what section you were reading about from under my invisibility cloak before I administered the charm. That information is not new to you. So, what is it then?" Harry folded his arms across his chest and glared at his professor.

"Well, it appears that plans have changed since someone's flaws were ever so bluntly pointed out to him. No one wants to be proven right by an insolent little child. So, I'm not quite sure what you are referring to anymore."

"Ah, brilliant." Harry murmured thoughtfully.

"Brilliant? You've just declared war, Harry Potter. Do you even realize what you've done?"

"Probably not as well as I should. But I am only thirteen after all, professor. If someone wants something more well thought out done, then perhaps an adult should have stepped in instead of leaving a child, as it's so often put, to deal with everything." Harry spat bitterly.

"Indeed, Mr. Potter." Snape conceded, much to Harry's surprise. "But perhaps said child should have realized that he wasn't an adult and made his plays accordingly, so as to not get him killed before he manages to reach adulthood for himself."

"Yes, well. If anyone would like this war to be over before I graduate, something had to be done. And if I'm a casualty in it all, so be it." Harry shrugged.

"You're dismissed." Snape said suddenly, turning with another swish of his robes and moving to take a seat behind his desk.

Harry bowed his head briefly at the professor before he swiftly walked out, his heart pounding in his chest as he went.

Snape was right; he very well could die very soon. And he wasn't exactly as ambivalent to the idea as he had been trying to make it seem.

* * *

It did look as if Harry was going to be able to make it to the end of his third year, at the very least. Harry had finished his exams and had decided to let the Weasleys, Neville, and Hermione convince him to come down with them to Hogsmeade for the final weekend of the year.

"I need to stock up on some sugar quills for the summer." Ron announced as they walked out The Three Broomsticks, having just enjoyed a butter beer. Harry groaned internally. He was not the biggest fan of Honeydukes.

"Why don't you guys go on ahead, I think I'll make my way up to the castle." Harry said, offering a wave as he turned away from the group.

"Are you sure, Harry?" Neville called after him.

Harry turned back around, momentarily.

"Yeah, you know I've never really had a sweet tooth." Harry offered a small smile and Neville, although looking worried as usual, shrugged and gave a sharp nod. Harry turned and made his way out of the village and back up towards the castle.

Perhaps Snape was right, and that letter had been a bit too much. Sending the body anonymously probably would have driven the point home. But he didn't want Voldemort to make some sort of desperate plot to maim a few students. That did not accomplish anything and did not make Voldemort look particularly strong.

But, why would Harry want Voldemort to make the smart move? Voldemort could easily make the dumb move, provoke the Order, and bring about a relatively swift, although probably violent, victory for the light. Was this Harry's slightly subconscious admission that he might want Voldemort to win the war?

He didn't really support Voldemorts ideals, but then, he didn't really support the light either. He didn't know what he wanted really, and every move he made, he made because it seemed like it was what should have been done at the time. He had an ultimately goal sort of, but it was vague and didn't really require him to develop detailed master plans.

Before Harry could contemplate his decisions anymore, he pulled from his thoughts by a noise.

He spun around to see a cloaked figure emerging out of the nearby woods, its wand point straight at him. Harry raised his hand quickly and fired off a disarming charm. But before Harry could even tell if his defense hit its target, everything went dark.

* * *

**A/N: Dun, dun, dun.**

**Year Three's all done I guess.**

**Erm, sorry that it's all cliff hanger-y sort of. Be warned that I might take a day or two more than usual to update too, because I've got stuff that needs to be done and I really want to work on my original work a little bit because I miss it and I think I need to really take some time to figure out how I want to write Voldemort to make sure I get him right. Reviews can guilt me into working a bit faster, just fyi, but otherwise, yeah. :)**

**Up Next: It's about time that a certain character showed up. Lot's of fun stuff next year, but I don't really want to spoil it.**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Harry woke up feeling incredibly stiff, with a dull ache in the back of his head.

He didn't really want to open his eyes. Since he apparently wasn't dead, he knew that opening his eyes would only mean that someone would notice that he was awake. And then he'd have to deal with things.

He was tired of dealing with things.

"Oh!" A voice squealed with a level of exuberance that Harry was sure was inappropriate for the situation. "Is little Harry Potter coming to?" The female voice finished.

"You've really been sitting here, staring at me, waiting for my breathing to become irregular or for any other sign of life?" Harry muttered in response, his eyes stilled closed. "Merlin, I must be important." There was some a swish of robes and a few soft and swift footprints along the stone floor and Harry assumed that his guard had moved from the post that she had previously taken.

"The Dark Lord has been looking forwards to killing you, Potter. He wanted to be notified the second you woke up as to not have to waste any more time being concerned over your pathetic existence." The voice spat.

"Like I said, important." Harry muttered, finally deigning to open his eyes to stare up at a stone ceiling. _What am I in, a dungeon? People really still have these things? Well of course Voldemort has a dungeon. _Harry sighed.

The face of a woman with long and wild curly dark hair that was pulled partially back appeared within his view, snarling down at him.

"Get up, you little brat."

Harry complied, lazily lifting himself from the ground, rubbing the back of his head as he came to stand in front of the woman in tattered clothes with dark, insane eyes. He looked around what proved to definitely be some form dungeon, noticed the barred door that covered the only exit to that small stone room that he and this guard were in.

"Are you Bellatrix Lestrange?" He asked.

"Oh, notoriety! I assume you've heard nothing but good things about me!" She jeered.

"I go to school with your nephew. Whiny little arrogant git, but means well enough, pretty loyal." Harry said conversationally, shrugging. "Why are you in this cell with me, shouldn't you be on the other side of that door holding the key?" Harry observed as he shrugged towards the barred exit.

"I'm very much looking forward to seeing you writhe on the ground at the hands of the Dark Lord. And if I were on the other side, I couldn't do this." She hissed as she grabbed a hold of Harry's shoulder and dragged him by the collar out of the cell he had been in and towards a set of stairs.

"Don't you mean wand?" Harry asked as he tried his best not to trip up the stairs. Bellatrix's grip on Harry did not allow for a particularly dignified posture as he walked and was disrupting any usual grace Harry may have had within his movements.

"You'll be begging for the mercy of death in between your screams soon enough, you cheeky little brat." She said as she pushed him forwards into a corridor. Although Harry had rather proudly noted that he was taller than her, if only by an inch or two, the woman was showing rather impressive strength for her size.

"Why aren't I restrained?" Harry asked out of curiosity.

"The Dark Lord has your wand." Harry raised his eyebrows. "Oh, don't think that we don't know about your wandless magic abilities." She snarled. "But the building is crawling with the Dark Lords followers; an escape on your part would be impractical. Even if you made it through the wards and out of the manor, you'd be stranded unless you've managed to learn how to apparate wandlessly, under aged, which I don't think the Great Little Harry Potter knows how to do." She sang mockingly.

Unfortunately, she was right. Learning how to apparate underage, wandlessly had seemed like more trouble than it was worth. He'd never be able to use it because if anyone caught him doing it he would be a great deal of trouble. And unfortunately, he had foolishly not anticipated a situation such as this.

But it still probably was more trouble than it was worth, because Harry had no desire to try to fight his way past Voldemort, surely rather old and powerful wards that might not be as willing to appease him as the Hogwarts ones were, and an army of Death Eaters.

"That's okay." Harry stated.

"Does baby Potter still think that he's going to make it out of this alive?" Bellatrix screeched at him. "Do he think that his daddy and his four legged flee ridden friends are going to come rescue him?"

"Ha," Harry scoffed. "No, I don't expect anyone to come and rescue me. But as far as my death, I don't know. Would you prefer that I act more scared, though? I didn't think that that would accomplish anything, but if it would appease you, I might consider it. I practiced my acting skills with a certain rat a little while ago." Harry stated flatly, before he widened his eyes and dropped the corners of his lips into a worried, desperate looking frown. "You, you have to help me. I-I didn't mean to insult anyone; it was all an act you see. I'm not a threat to anyone!" Harry cried as he fell to the ground sniveling.

"If Pettigrew fell for that, he deserved to die." She muttered.

"Those were my thoughts exactly." Harry smirked. Bellatrix's face twisted in anger.

"Get up before I give you your first Cruciatus! The Dark Lord wanted to do the honors, but he will forgive me for my disobedience the second he meet you." She growled as she grabbed a hold of Harry's shoulder and dragged him with her down the hall.

"Oh, you think that no one has ever wished pain on me like that before? I may never have technically found myself under the Cruciatus, but I've felt similar." Harry said, thinking back to his lessons with Krv.

"Nothing is comparable to the Cruciatus, you little know-it-all twit." Bellatrix snapped.

They came to a set of double doors at the end of the corridor that had a cloaked figure standing on each side of it. Upon Harry and Bellatrix's arrival at the door they synchronously each pushed a door open and Bellatrix dragged Harry through them. Harry tried to take in the room, but suddenly found himself being pushed to the ground.

"He's awakened, my Lord."

Harry pulled himself into a sitting position and looked ahead to find Bellatrix clutching the robes or none other than Lord Voldemort who sat atop what might as well have been a throne, as she looked up at him with desperate eyes, like a dog expecting a treat for doing a trick.

Draco was right. Harry would never ask for someone to grovel at his feet. It was much too theatrical for his liking. It was almost hard to take seriously. He scoffed aloud.

Immediately, Bellatrix turned to glare it him as she flung herself away from Voldemort and towards Harry.

"How dare you!" She snarled. Harry raised his eyebrows at the dramatics, wondering if he was really supposed to not find all of this just a little bit humorous.

"Bella, where are your manners?" A voice drawled and both Harry and Bellatrix snapped their head to look at Voldemort. "Harry Potter." He enunciated contemplatively as he rose from his throne.

Harry pulled himself up from the ground to stand before the man

"Tom Riddle." Harry mimicked, earning an appalled gasp from Bellatrix "You are looking younger than I expected you to." Harry said, eying the man. He looked old, but not as old as he should have. His dark hair was graying, but only by his temples. He was also surprisingly fit. From what Harry could tell from the man's forearms which protruded from his robes, he was thin, but in a lean kind of way, not in elderly man who has lost most of his muscle kind of way. "Aren't you supposed to be like 65?" Harry asked with a fearlessness that was more than he could have hoped for.

Voldemort eyed Harry with an unreadable look before he swooped down on him, leaning over the boy, asserting his greater stature over him.

"_I have heard very interesting things about you, Harry Potter._" He hissed in Parseltongue.

"_Oh, such as?_"

"_You're a Parseltongue, clearly_." He hissed dryly as he began to circle around Harry. "_You know more defense spells than most adults trained in such magics. You have a fairly unprecedented ability with wandless magic. And rumor has it you've been learning some dark magic."_

"_Hm, good, I've certainly been obvious enough about my abilities_."

"_Obvious?"_ Voldemort asked, although he kept his tone completely uninterested.

"_Yeah, well, you think I've been stupid enough to slip up and go around speaking Parseltongue and strangling my potions teacher in dueling club on accident?"_

"_Fascinating, Potter. You are fascinating. What should I do with you?"_

_ "I believe I was told that I was going to be crucioed until I begged for death, which you would so graciously provide_."  
"_Ah, yes_."

And Harry found himself on the floor in absolute agony. Bellatrix was unfortunately right, it was incomparable, and just enough worse than the wandless, spell-less pain that Harry had learn to set upon people to make it completely unbearable from the first moment it had been cast upon him. It wasn't like being stabbed with a thousand knives or burned alive or anything he had ever heard it be described as. It just hurt. Everything hurt.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid._

Harry thought as he bit his tongue until he tasted blood in an effort not to scream.

_Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!_

Harry finally lost to the pain and let out a scream.

_Make it stop!_

And then it did.

"Not so all powerful after all, Mr. Potter, are we?" Voldemort said as he stood over Harry, who was lying on the floor panting.

"I never claimed to be." Harry breathed out in response.

"_But yet, you seem to have built up a persona that has everyone who knows who you are believing you to be nearly so."_ Voldemort hissed as he paced around Harry's body that still lay on the floor.

"_So_?" Harry hissed back tiredly as he pulled himself up, only to cringe in pain as he did so.

"_Show me_."

"_Show you what?"_

_ "Your magic you foolish child."_

_ "On who?"_

"Lucius, step forward."

"Harry turned to see a row of cloaked people standing behind him that he had been vaguely aware of, but too distracted to be overly concerned with their presence until now. When one cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself as the elder Malfoy, Harry couldn't help but darkly turn up a corner of his mouth.

"_This pleases you?"_ Harry snapped his head back to face Voldemort.

_"It's always fun showing off, Tom. I'm sure you know this. That's what you were just doing, wasn't it? Showing off to me, showing off to your death eaters? Torturing me accomplishes absolutely nothing. I have nothing you want that I have refused you that you would need to get out of me and if you were punishing me to teach me obedience, that lesson would be completely worthless if you kill me in an hour."_

_ "Then I have no problem showing off again, no matter what your fate." _Voldemort hissed. "_Are you going to show me or am I going to have to find another way to amuse myself."_

"_Give me a second, will you?"_

Harry eyed Lucius for a moment before releasing a chain of golden magic, wrapping in around Lucius' robbed body, before constricting the magic. He didn't bother with the darker magic. The last thing he needed was to send the wrong idea to some perverted death eater and end up being raped. The dark magic only seemed threatening if used against a light wizard, and since Lucius was clearly not one, it was not worth bothering.

"_Fascinating."_ Voldemort hissed into Harry's ear as he came continued to circle around the boy.

Harry snapped back his magic after Lucius began to turn slightly blue and made some lovely choking sounds.

"_Do you just like having someone to talk to that isn't scaled? Or do you not want to let your precious followers hear our conversation?"_

"Is that all you can do?" Voldemort said with disdain in English, otherwise ignoring Harry's comment.

"No, I can blow things up too. But I probably shouldn't use Lucius here as a dummy for that, since it has proven to be rather fatal."

"Fatal?" Voldemort said, his tone expressing interest although his expression was one of boredom.

"You've already forgotten Quirrell?"

"Ah, yes, so that was you and not that headmaster you love so much."

"Yeah, right." Harry scoffed. "I can do other things with it technically; I can will it to do nearly whatever I want without having to bother with spells, I can channel it through my wand to amplify it, if I want to, but you're still holding that hostage, so I couldn't show you that. I mean, spells are still helpful for more focused things, like unlocking doors or certain more complex transfigurations, but otherwise I haven't really hit a barrier that I wasn't able to tear down if I wanted to." Harry shrugged.

"And the unforgivables?"

"Don't really like them much. They make death too easy, nearly meaningless. I've always found them kind of pathetic. I can inflict pain in a way similar to the Cruciatus without having to bother with the actual curse, but as I have just discovered it is not quite as powerful."

"What about Peter?"

"There's a time and a place for everything. It was the most practical thing at the time. I also cast it wandless, if you're curious. Out of the three people I've killed, well if you count the other Tom, I've killed one with Avada Kedavra. And that isn't including the basilisk. I'm sure your record would not reflect similar statistics." Harry shrugged again. Voldemort returned a particularly haughty shrug, clearly not too concerned about the creativity of his methods of killing.

"So the question remains: what should I do with you?"

"You mean there are options? Well that's reassuring."

"The more comments you make like that, the fewer options there become." Voldemort snapped darkly as he pointed his wand at Harry.

"Of course, sorry Tom." Harry said, bowing his head slightly, not being able to stop himself from smirking a little.

"I've come to the conclusion that killing you would be a waste. Although it is one that I'd be willing to make if you do not learn to show some respect." Voldemort finished with a threatening glare.

"I'm sure it is. But you aren't very well going to just let me go, so what are your plans then?"

"I have some plans, rather monumental plans, in which you could serve purpose."

"Oh?"

"Yes," The Dark Lord drawled. "I would need you to prove your loyalty to me first though."

"Loyalty?"

"Yes, Potter, I'd need to trust you in order to allow you play such an important role in my plans. You are too smart for your own good and I would need to know that you would not just be going along with my plans until you can betray me."

"And what do you have in mind to prove this?"

"First you'll be marked."

"My Lord!" Bellatrix screeched, stepping out of the spot she had taken in the line of Death Eaters. "Being marked is an honor! The ungrateful brat doesn't deserve our mark!"

"The ungrateful brat is will need to be marked in order for my plans to succeed. Do you doubt me, Bella?" Voldemort hissed softly and Bellatrix's eyes widened.

"No," She gasped, her eyes widening. "Of course not, my Lord." Bellatrix murmured as she stepped back into line.

"He will be marked." Voldemort repeated, while looking down the line of Death Eaters, as if daring anyone else to object.

"No." Harry said firmly. Voldemort snapped his head back to look at Harry, and Harry only had a moment to really notice that Voldemorts eye's were not black, as previously thought, but really a deep blood red, before he found himself on the floor, this time screaming instantly, still too weak from the last curse be able to resist for even a few moments. Thankfully, the pain soon stopped. Harry lay on his back on the floor, in too much pain and too exhausted to be able to even make an attempt to just sit up.

"That kind of desperate need for independence is not reassuring me that I can put any amount of trust in you." Voldemort tsked as he stared down at Harry.

"If you mark me it's too much of a risk if you have any intentions of me going out in public again."

"You have an arsenal of defense spells, but you can't keep up a glamour?" He asked dryly and he raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"It's too much of a risk. There are plenty of types of magic that remove glamours." Harry said, as he finally mustered the strength to stand up.

"You are proving to be a bit of a disappointment, Potter. Have you not heard of sleeves?"

"It's too much of a risk. If the way my life has gone so far is any indicator, it would be best to expect the most misfortunate situations possible."

"Fine. Take off your robe." Voldemort commanded so harshly that Harry nearly didn't notice the surely rare concession. He began to do ask asked, but not without questioning the command.

"Why?"

"What's your wand hand?" Voldemort asked, ignoring him.

"I prefer my right. Why?" Harry asked again, this time with his tone defensive. He now stood in just his trousers and a jumper, with his robes pooled at his feet, glaring suspiciously at the Dark Lord.

Before Harry knew what was happening, Voldemort was pulling up Harry's jumper on his left side and had his wand pointed at Harry's hip.

"What!" Harry cried out as he tried to pull himself away from the man, but was shocked into silence as his skin began to burn. He watched looked down to watch in horror as a snake slithered its way out of the tip of Voldemorts wand and onto his skin.

Voldemort released Harry with unnecessary force, causing Harry to stumble backwards and fall to the ground.

"There. You are now able to not worry about sleeves. Just keep your shirt on." Voldemort stated nonchalantly.

Harry was speechless. He opened and shut his mouth a few times trying to find a dignified way of explaining how absolutely nothing was resolved by the decision that Voldemort had made. He had been marked, branded like cattle, and had had about as much say in the matter as a cow would have.

"Lucius, show Harry to his room." Voldemort commanded suddenly, looking at Harry with the slightest trace of a victorious smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. It was gone and replaced with the usual completely unaffected look as soon as Harry had seen it, but he had seen it none the less, and rage began to boil in the pit of Harry's stomach.

Before Harry could think about anything else, he found Lucius shoving him towards the door of the chamber and back out into the hall. The senior Malfoy led Harry through what Harry had assumed was Voldemorts secret, uncharitable, untraceable, heavily warded, inner circle secret keeper kept manor. Harry was led up a flight of stairs and down a hallway that was surprisingly barren. There were no portraits, no artwork of any kind. Most old dark wizard residences had their walls covered with portraits of ancestors, of great wizards, of dark and frightening landscapes at the very least. The walls at Sirius's family home, Grimmauld Place, was covered with pictures. But here, the only things that lined the hallway were doors, one of which Lucius stopped before.

"Your room." Lucius said dryly as he held open the door. Harry stepped through the door frame to see a fair sized room that housed a large canopied bed, a desk, a fire place with an arm chair sitting in front of it, a wardrobe, and another door that Harry assumed led to a bathroom. "There are spare robes in the wardrobe." Lucius informed.

Harry nodded absent mindedly as he walked across the room to the desk that had a few books lines up on it. He picked up the books and looked over the titles, and was surprised to see that he had not read, or even heard of any of them, although he was not surprised to see that all the books seemed to cover different aspects of the dark arts.

Harry was pulled out of his musings when he heard the sound of a door clicking shut behind him. He ran across the room and opened the door, surprised to find that it was not locked. He stuck his head out and looked down the hall in both directions, but found no one in sight. He closed the door as he stepped back into the room. He leaned his back against the closed door and slid his back down door until he sat on the floor.

Banging his head against the door, he let out an exasperated sigh as his mind tried to come to terms with everything that had just happened. After a moment he got up and grabbed a book off the desk before going to sit down in front of the already lit fireplace, waiting for someone to show up again and inform him of what his new forced allegiance entailed.

It seemed the most practical thing to do.

And he certainly wasn't going to leave the room and seek out answers if he could avoid it.

That could be mistaken as trying to deal with the situation.

He really hated dealing with things.

* * *

**A/N: It's rather short and came after much delay, but it's something. I hope I haven't managed to screw up Voldemort too badly. Much more to come, but at this point it seems impractical to have anything else happen.**

**Up Next: More Voldemort, probably some Snape and various other Death Eaters too and hopefully a little bit of insight into Tom's plans for Harry. Or maybe Harry will be killed and the story will end. Just kidding. I think…. :P**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Harry waited in that room for he wasn't sure how long exactly. Eventually, he had fallen asleep in front of the fire, and when he woke up, morning light shone through the window. Harry returned to the book he had been reading, but after checking out the window to see the sun high and the sky and listening to his stomach let out a few rather annoying growls, Harry put his book down, unable to muster up the concentration to read anymore. He was beginning to wonder if Voldemort simply planned on starving him to death. It would be rather anticlimactic and seemed rather un-Voldemort like, but as the sky began to grow dark again and Harry had finished the first Dark Arts tome and had begun on a second, even larger one, he couldn't help but wonder.

He had taken a drink from the tap in the bathroom several times throughout the day, and realized that he could probably survive for at least a good two weeks without food as long as he had water, but it certainly wouldn't be a pleasant experience, starving to death.

Maybe Voldemort was trying to weaken him. That might make a bit more sense, making sure that Harry wasn't any stronger than the once great Dark Wizard. But then again, that kind of move was also a little pathetic on Voldemorts part. But, as he fell asleep for the second night at Voldemorts manor without any sign of neither wizard nor house elf, he really was beginning to question the Dark Lord intentions.

Harry woke the next morning and drew himself a bath, not knowing what else to do. He sat in the tub and stared up at the ceiling. Out of boredom, he released some of his dark magic and let it swirl above him. He began to hum slightly, not carrying any particular tune, but rather composing his own piece to accompany the swirling magic. He shot of firework like burst of light magic occasionally into the purple fog as he began to hum more intensely, becoming completely captivated by the show he was putting on.

"Potter, what is it exactly you are doing?" A voice drawled.

Harry snapped his magic back and stopped humming, turning his head to find Snape leaning against the door frame of the bathroom.

"What am I doing? What are you doing? Have you ever heard of a thing called privacy?" Harry hissed in embarrassment and he clawed at the soap bubbles in the tub, trying to pool them around this chest so that the professor might not be able to see him nude lower body through the water.

"I never took you to be so prude Potter, particularly considering the current…circumstances." The professor stated as he walked across the bathroom to the sink, where he boredly picked up a bottle of hand soap and examined it. Harry took the opportunity of the professor's inattention to jump out of the tub and wrap a towel around his waist. "And anyway, considering your… stature, it was always assumed that your inadequacies would lay within that… area." The professor stated flatly as he turned around and looked pointedly at Harry's now covered groin before rolling his eyes up Harry's form to look the now fuming boy in the eyes.

"I'm perfectly adequate." Harry huffed before storming out of the bathroom and over to the wardrobe, opening it for the first time since he began his stay at Chez Voldemort.

"Indeed," Snape said as he leered at Harry, clearly enjoying himself, before he sat down in the armchair before the fire. "Your presence before the Dark Lord has been requested for a morning tea, Potter." Snape said.

"Oh, so he plans on feeding me, does he?" Harry said as he riffled through the robes in the closet, before opening a drawer below, looking for something to wear under them.

"I'd learn to hold your tongue, Potter, if you'd like to live to see tomorrow. I have hardly managed to prevent myself from murdering you over the years, and you'll find that the Dark Lords does not have quite as much patience as I do, nor the restraints of working as a professor under Dumbledore where a teacher would be heavily reprimanded if they murdered one of their students."

"Oh? Yes, of course." Harry conceded with such a tone that showed he really did not care at all. "But I know that you've always kind of liked me, even if you would never admit it." He concluded as he pulled some clothes out of the drawer and grabbed a set of robes out of the closet before going back into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

A few minutes later Harry came out of the bathroom, dressed in what Harry realized were unfortunately the standard black Death Eater robes. He had considered leaving the robes and wearing trousers and a button down skirt, like some sort of a muggle, but he had to admit that that would only make him look less impressive and make it easier for Voldemort to walk all over him.

Snape was still sitting in the arm chair before the fire, flipping through the book that Harry had left open over the arm of the chair, marking his page.

"You've lost my spot." Harry pointed out as he leaned up against a post of the bed and eyed his professor.

"I'm sure you can find it again." The professor said as he raised himself from the arm chair, dropping the book into the seat of the chair, closed. Harry scowled at the man. "Are you coming, or do you really like the Cruciatus that much?" He called back to Harry as he walked out of the room.

"I'm not masochistic." Harry said as he followed the professor out of the room.

"Oh, of course not." Snape smirked as he walked down the barren hallway. Harry scowled, but then changed the topic of conversation to something more important.

"So, er, has anyone realized what's happened to me?" Harry asked in his best attempt at sounding conversational.

"Your disappearance has been noted and the worst has been assumed, which is unfortunately for you, very accurate." Harry nodded, a faraway look claiming his eyes as he considered the information. "It has not yet made the Prophet, though." The professor elaborated.

"Mmhm." Harry hummed, still staring very intently ahead down the hall at nothing in particular.

The pair made their way down the stairs and across the manor, finally ending up in front of another set of impressive double doors, similar to the ones he had seen two days ago, however this time without the large cloaked men guarding them. Apparently, a door opening guards were not needed because with a flick of his wand, Snape caused the doors to fly open and he strode through them, robes flailing out impressively. Harry raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes as he glided in behind the potions master.

He found himself standing in a large dining room with a table that could have sat at least twenty people. However, at the head of the table, one lone person sat, holding a cup of tea in one hand and a copy of the prophet in the other. He looked rather like some sort of high society business man, rather than a Dark Lord, but as soon as he lowered his paper and looked across the room at Harry, looking straight through the teen with those blood red eyes, Harry remembered exactly what the man was.

"Your disappearance is not quite shaking the Wizarding World as much as I assumed it would, Potter."

Harry took a deep breath, steadying his nerves, as he approached the Dark Lord. His power, even if it had perhaps been reduced, was similar to Dumbledore's in its ability to make Harry nervous. However, there was no way in hell he would ever let him know that. He took a seat at the table at the Dark Lords right side, not bothering to wait to be asked to take a seat, and served himself a pastry from a platter that sat in the middle of the table before he responded.

"They do not wish to cause an unnecessary stir, I'm sure. Waiting to make sure I have not just decided to run off on my own. If you'd like the front page, you're going to have to announce that you have taken me." Harry said, pausing to take a bite of the pastry. "But my question is, will you be admitting to my kidnapping or will you claim that I have willingly joined you?"

"I've kidnapped you, Harry, why would I lie?"

"I see." Harry said, accepting the non answer and spooning some sugar into his tea. "So." Harry said tersely, unsure where to take the conversation. "Why am I here?"

"I figured that you would be hungry, so I so graciously decided to invite you to tea." Voldemort said as he looked at Harry with a look of disgust as Harry stuffed the rest of his pastry into his mouth. Harry noticed and merely stuffed the food into his cheeks so that he resembled a chipmunk and grinned at the dark lord. Voldemort raised his eyebrows in distaste and Harry swallowed.

"Yes, and I thank you for not starving me to death. However, you could have had a house elf bring a plate up to me room. Or I could be starving to death in the dungeons after spending half the night under the Cruciatus. The question is why I am here in your presence having tea?" Harry said as he carefully patted his mouth with a napkin, before putting the napkin down and leaning forwards towards Voldemort, creating a look of intense curiosity on his face.

"I have great plans for you Harry Potter. And I do treat my followers well, rarely ever locking them down in the dungeons and starving them to death."

"Right, rarely ever." Harry repeated. "And these plans would include?" Harry drawled, trying very hard to not become frustrated, as he was sure that was exactly what the man wanted.

"Nothing you need to be aware of yet."

"Then what am I doing here?" Harry snapped.

"We are having tea, Harry. We will converse. I hope that you are familiar with the concept. Now, tell me about yourself."

"Er, my name is Harry James Potter, son of James and Lily Potter. I attend Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry and I will be going into my fourth year, well, if you plan on letting me go back to Hogwarts I suppose." Harry stated flatly, matching the non answers the Dark Lord had been giving him all day.

"You will be going back to Hogwarts. But how about telling me something I don't know."

"Fine. But this will go both ways then. You ask me a question and then I'll ask you a question. We have the right to pass on a question but another two will be asked in its place. Go."

"What is this, some sort of dull party game? Do you play this with your dates at Madame Puttifoot's Tea Shop?"

"I'll be nice and count that as only one question." Harry began. "I don't date. It is hardly worth my time. What about you, do you take lovers?"

"Why, are you interested in filling the role?" Voldemort raised his eye browns suggestively, but still managed to look rather bored.

"Merlin, no!" Harry scoffed.

"Hm, well if romantic human interaction isn't worth your precious time, it is hardly worth mine."

"You asked me if I dated, that takes lots of time. I asked if you took lovers. It takes all of five minutes to fuck, and that includes disrobing. Plus, you're an adult, that kind of thing is expected. I hardly expect you to have romantic dinners for two out on the terrace. I doubt that you are capable of feeling the kind of compassion for another person that would require."

"Language, Potter." Voldemort chided. "But you are right in the fact that I am certainly not looking for love. But do you really picture me 'fucking' someone quickly in a closet in between meetings, anyway? I much prefer the whole process to be a little more… drawn out."

"I prefer not to picture you fucking at all, thank you very much. But no, I suppose you'd be into very masochistic foreplay, you sick bastard."

"I should curse you for that, particularly because my parentage is none of your business."

"But we were doing so well conversing. My screams would ruin what we had going." Harry whined.

"I said I should. So do you," Voldemort began but Harry cut him off.

"It's my turn for a question. Now, are you technically a bastard? Rumor has it you're a half blood, you hypocrite."

"Rumor, eh? And where would you hear such a thing?" Voldemort hissed.

"Dumbledore has mentioned it to the Order once or twice. Don't worry, I'm sure the general population isn't aware, none the less your pretty little pureblood death eaters, unless you've told them yourself. Well, they might have heard whisperings of it, but I'm sure you have them trained well enough not to mention it. But for someone who is all about blood purity and strength, how do you explain that some of the most powerful wizards in the world are Half-bloods? You, Dumbledore, myself, and even Snape, although he isn't one to show it off and has no interest in leading, are all incredibly powerful half bloods.

"All of the powerful Wizards in the Order are half bloods. The Weasleys are hardly above average in their power level. And of course the Longbottom's while loyal, have never been exceptionally powerful. And my mum's been a little distracted since school, trying to be a parent and all that, but at least when she was practicing more difficult magic regularly and before my dad trained to be an auror she was more powerful than my father. As far as I see it, pureblood customs are good for intimidation, but being a pureblood hardly makes you any more powerful."

"Muggles are a danger to us, Harry. They are filthy and pathetic creatures who would want nothing more than to exterminate every last wizard if we do not come to a position of control by allowing muggleborns into our society we face great risks."

"So, killing off muggleborns is surely going to keep the existence of wizards a secret? It's going to keep the Wizarding race from dying out?"

"I haven't had a raid against Muggles in nearly ten years."

"And why is that? What weakened you?"

"I believe it is my turn to ask a question."

"Fine."

"When did you begin practicing Dark Magic?"

"Not really until I go to Hogwarts. Doing that kind of thing at home was too much of a risk. I worked with Draco Malfoy on dark magic in my second year quite a bit, in exchange for my general expertise in magic."

"Ah, fascinating." Voldemort said, slowly tapping a finger against the table in thought.

"So, the infamous raid, why haven't you had one since?"

"I pass." Voldemort hissed.

"Alright, then. Did you just have a change of heart? Or did it really weaken you?"

"Pass."

"Okay, but you're up to four questions. What happened that night?"

"I think we have finished here, Potter." Voldemort said, rising from the table.

"No, we most certainly have not. You don't get to quit the game because it isn't going in your favor. Or is that exactly what you have done. Should you just wave the white flag, admit defeat. Why are you drawing the war out then?"

"I believe since you are my follower, my prisoner, I can do whatever I want."

"I'm not your follower. Having your mark doesn't make me loyal to you. And I'm hardly going to cooperate with you if you can't tell me what your motivations are, what your intentions are. Trust is a two way street, Tom."

"I will not tell you, Potter." Voldemort spat. "But I will show you what happened that night. But then, I get to ask you a question that you have to answer."

"Do you have a pensive, or are you going to let me into your mind?"

"I hardly think we are to that level of trust." Voldemort growled as he summoned a pensive, vanishing Harry's dishes and setting the pensive in their place. Voldemort then pulled a string of memory from his head with his wand and stirred it into the pensive, before he shoved Harry's face into the pensive.

Harry gasped as he fell into the memory and looked around to find himself on a typical muggle street, lines with houses that all looked exactly the same, all with perfectly manicured laws. Except it seemed that there was a bit of a disturbance that particular evening: the surely usually peaceful road was filled with men in black cloaks and dark and frightening masks. Harry looked around to see Voldemort standing in the middle of it all, wand raised over his head as he shot a Dark Mark into the sky before the death eaters began to move, storming into houses along the street, torturing the few muggles who were unfortunate enough to be out mowing their lawn or watching their children play in the yard and who were already terrified as they had bared witness to the Death Eaters arrival.

Harry watched as Voldemort stood by himself now, in the middle of the road, laughing manically as chaos ensued. Harry couldn't help but scoff at the theatrics. But suddenly Harry was pulled from his commentary as a shot rang out and Voldemort fell forwards to the ground. His cloaked from laid crumpled on the ground, and he suddenly looked rather small. A muggle man with a rifle in his hand, dressed in a camouflaged vest, clearly just having come back from a hunting trip, stood behind him panting. And then Harry was ripped from the memory.

"You were shot by a muggle. Really? The great and powerful Lord Voldemort was taken down with a muggle weapon? Oh, Merlin, no wonder you went into hiding and kept that fact a secret." Harry laughed, but his laugher was quickly replaced by screams as he fell out of his chair under the influence of a Cruciatus from Voldemorts wand. Eventually the pain stopped and Harry lay on the floor, staring up at the chandelier that hung on the ceiling.

"Do you see the threat muggles pose to us?" Voldemort growled, looking down at Harry.

"That muggle would not have shot you if it weren't for you attacking his neighbors!" Harry exclaimed as he pulled himself into a sitting position. "It was self defense! And in this country most muggles don't have weapons like that anyway. It was really only a bit of bad luck that you happened to decide to raid that neighborhood the exact moment a muggle was unloading his car after a hunting trip!"

"Well then what do you want, Potter? What are your motivations?"

Harry pulled himself back up into his chair before he began to speak.

"I don't have a master plan exactly. I'd just like respect on both sides, I guess. I don't want any of tensions that currently exist within the Wizarding community to continue to exist. If we were united, if our ministry was not corrupt, if you didn't have a pastime of attacking muggles, then we would probably never have to worry about being found out. But with muggleborns being attacked by purebloods, dark wizards attacking light wizards, wizards shaming, disowning, or," Harry paused and clenched his fists. "Doing even worse things to squibs or anyone without magic, it's all awful. That puts us at risk more than anything."

"World peace is a foolish thing to wish for." Voldemort interjected.

"I don't want world peace. I just want kind of a peaceful coexistence. Muggles go on with their shit and we go on with ours. And within the Wizarding world we come up with laws that don't take away the rights of entire groups of people. We don't essentially need a muggle democracy, with Light and Dark being reduced to political parties, but we need a government that acknowledges both light and dark magic as valid, and it probably should respect magical creatures a bit more too. And people will still break the laws that are made. Light and dark wizards alike will surely still commit acts of violence, murder others. But we would have a ministry that can deal with it and move on. And someday again, maybe laws will need to be changed; maybe there will be another war. But this one needs to end."

"So where do I fall into this plan of yours?" Voldemort hissed as he circled around the back of Harry's chair, tracing his hands over the back of it.

"You are either reformed or you will lose to the light. Because the funny thing about the kind of dictatorship that you desire is that they are usually very unstable. You would simply be outnumbered by people that oppose you, and eventually they will take back power. And plus, when the wizards around the rest of the world hear that you have taken Britain and will continue your quest for world domination, they are going to fight. And it will be you against the world. And you'll lose. It's impractical."

"I believe that our meeting is over. I have another meeting to attend." Voldemort said with an eerie calmness.

"Sure. I'll give you time to think about what I've said. Give you time to adjust your plans accordingly." Harry nodded thoughtfully as he rose from his chair.

Voldemort swept out of the room, ignoring Harry, and Snape appeared in the doorway that Voldemort disappeared out of.

"Were you eavesdropping, Professor?" Harry asked jovially.

"I have better things to do with my time than listen to you be tortured for your cheek." Snape replied.

"Ah, well, of course." Harry mumbled as they made their way back towards Harry's room in silence. They made their way back to the wing Harry's room was in and walked up the stairs and down walked down the upstairs hallway, and Snape eventually opened a door that proved to lead into Harry's room. Harry stepped through and looked back at Snape.

"You'll find that being a follower of the Dark Lord is a very time consuming job. No one has any time for doing much else besides serving him. Not even for fucking." Snape drawled before he closed the door to Harry's room, leaving Harry alone in his room to throw his head back and let out a laugh.

Assuming that he could manage to keep himself alive through the summer, things might just be looking up.

* * *

**A/N: Figured since it's nearly fourth year, I should begin to make efforts to earn the M rating I've given this. But honestly, besides the potential for some slightly graphic violence, this kind of banter is about as bad as it will get. Plus, I've given you the beginning of some answers to mysteries of this story. From this point on there will being increasingly more of that.**

**Sorry for the delay. Um, I don't know what to say. I've been participating in life and have not been motivated enough to make time to write, so I haven't. But here's another chapter anyway. I have exams coming up, so I probably won't be able to update particularly soon again either. Sorry.**

**Up Next: More Harry and Voldemort stuff.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

"Potter." A voice snapped Harry from his surprisingly restful sleep.

"What?" Harry calmly asked the voice that was unmistakably identifiable, even though it had barely uttered a syllable, as he lay on his back and blinked up at the ceiling.

"The Dark Lord desires your presence, Merlin knows why." Snape said as he came into Harry's view as he stood at the side of the bed and towered over Harry. Harry raised a hand into the air and pinched his fingers together.

"What on Earth are you doing, Potter?" Snape asked, his look of displeasure forming into a full on scowl.

"Squeezing your head." Harry said dryly.

"Potter." Snape barked in warning.

Harry sighed as he sat up in bed and rolled out of bed, brushing past Snape as he made his way to the bureau. He pulled on one of his apparently very versatile death eater robes before turning back to face Snape.

"Well, you keep me locked in this room; I'll take me entertainment where I can get it." Harry said conversationally. Snape didn't seem to find him very funny. "Where are we venturing today?" Harry sighed.

"The Dark Lord's study in the east wing."

"He has a study? Isn't that a little boring? I would expect something more Dark Lord-y sounding, perhaps a lair. My father has a study. I thought it would have been Voldemorts goal to make sure he never had anything, no matter how irrelevant or remote, with someone like James Potter." Harry grinned as he stepped out of the room after Snape.

"Oh, of course, I was mistaken. The Dark Lords torture chamber is actually in the north wing."

"Well my father certainly does not have one of those." Harry said with a victorious grin, as having gotten Severus Snape to crack a joke was always a great accomplishment.

Snape made a small noise that was somewhere between a grunt and a hum and did not say anything else, and Harry certainly had no desire to force the conversation, so he resigned himself to following Snape down the halls into a part of the manor that he had not yet been in.

"Here we are." Snape said as he stopped in front of what seemed to be the standard overly impressive door, although this one was only a single door.

"So what's the protocol? Do I go in, do you announce me, is there knocking involved, will he just sense our presence and the door will mysteriously open?" Harry asked.

The door swung open, answering Harry's question.

"Enter." A voice called lowly across the dimly lit room. Harry did so and Snape seemed to vanish into thin air.

"Activated the wards?" Harry asked as he sat down in a chair that sat before a grand desk that Voldemort sat behind, leaning back in a chair so his face was hidden in shadows. "And what's with the lighting? How do you get any work done in here? Harry asked as he snapped his fingers and the room light up.

"You have a deluminator?" Voldemort asked.

"No, snapping to turn lights on is a muggle trick. My aunt was very upset over the fact that muggles were trying to imitate magic by being able to snap or clap and have lights turn on, as my aunt is rather disgusted with magic. So I kind of stole the idea and made it into real magic. It's similar magic to a deluminator, but I can do it wandlessly, and I don't need to take the light source in order to be able to restore it, kind of like a deluminator combined with a lumos charm, if you are looking at the magic." Harry explained. "Clearly." He drawled as he leaned back into his chair, trying his best to match the Dark Lords ever bored grimace.

"And do you spend a lot of time inventing magic?" Voldemort asked with that barely there shine that Harry was learning was Tom's sincere interest or curiosity, although he tried very hard to make such emotions invisible. Or really any emotions for that matter, besides occasional rage, Harry supposed.

"I get bored. I had just reached NEWT level in all my classes at the end of this past year, however I probably could have gotten my NEWT in defense a few months into my first year, and books that I had not read started becoming scarcer and scarcer. I mean, I do have a good portion of the Hogwarts library left, but I'm mostly left with things like biographies or fiction. Nothing particularly useful. So I started altering spells. I've never created any sort of magic from scratch, it has all been alterations of other magic, but it is something to do and it occasionally proves to be useful. But my pure magic has proved to provide me quite a bit to think about, so very little of the magic I've invented would be usable by a witch or wizard of average power. There is not really spells for most of it. I just kind of decide how I want the magic to work and that's what it does. Maybe someday I'll try to work backwards after I've studied spell creation more and make it more usable to the general Wizarding population, but that isn't my priority right now. Right now if I can think in concepts and get magic to happen that is good enough for me." Harry replied honestly.

"I see." Voldemort said, very pointedly saying nothing else.

"So is there a particular reason that you've called me here today?" Harry asked to fill the silence that had fallen over the pair.

"I have some plans that I need to share some information with you about. You will need to be returned to your parents before the end of the summer, and I do not know how long we will have because I do not know the plans of the Order as far as rescuing you are."

"Okay?" Harry questioned, hoping for elaboration.

"Those plans are not relevant to you Harry. You have proven to do very well with having as little time as possible to question things. If I tell you anything that you need to know more than a second before you need to know it, I risk having you decide to alter plans and act on your own, or at the very least increase this risk. You will only know exactly what you need to know exactly when you need to know it, no more often and no less. This will often mean that things will be explained to your after they happen. You will have to get over it."

"I'll have to 'get over it'?" Harry mimicked.

"_Yes._" Voldemort hissed.

"Oh, that reminds me, where is your snake anyway? Nagini is it? I have two snakes back at school. They honestly probably miss me more than my parents to." Harry babbled.

"Nagini has been given a task that requires her presence elsewhere for right now. It is none of your concern."

"I'm sure. So if you are not going to tell me anything, then why am I here?"  
"I have some additional reading material for you." Voldemort said as he handed Harry a book.

"Magical creatures? Really?" Harry scoffed as he flipped through the book, scrunching up his face in disdain.

"You already know all of the information contained in this book?" Voldemort asked, raising his thin eyebrows.

"I have not read this book exactly, but yes, I am familiar with magical creatures."

"Well, perhaps this book contains information that you are not familiar with. Perhaps it could prove to be useful to you in the future. But since you are clearly the mastermind Dark Lord in this situation I suppose that you don't have to waste your time reading the book that I have selected for you." Voldemort said dryly and Harry smirked.

"Ha. You are funny Tom. Perhaps you are really only misunderstood, not nearly as evil as people seem to believe." Harry then fell out of his chair in agony.

"Touche! I surrender!" Harry managed to form his screams into intelligible words and the pain stopped. "I'm going to be no good to you if you damage me permanently due to over exposure to the Cruciatus curse, you know." Harry said as he slowly pulled himself back up into his chair.

"_Then don't test me." _Voldemort hissed.

"_I will make a greater effort not to._" Harry hissed back. "Anything else, or should I go begin my assignment, Professor?"

"You will have dueling lessons, Harry."

"I think I'm a perfectly competent dueler, thank you very much."

"Yes, you are. This lesson is not on the ability to win, Harry. It will be a lesson in choreography Harry. You are going to play the role of a double agent for me, Harry. At some point, you may be expected to fight Death Eaters to uphold your appearance as having allegiance to the light until the time comes to make your true allegiances known comes. So you will have to learn how to fight someone in a way that looks convincing without actually getting yourself harmed by or harming someone who is in reality on the same side as you are. My followers need to know exactly how strong they are so they can throw as much at you as possible in order to make a battle or duel convincing that you will still be able to handle, and you need to know the same thing for them."

"That sounds reasonable."

"This week you will work with Bellatrix. Then you will work with Lucius, then Severus, and then myself. You will not work with all of the members of my inner circle because it would be believable if I had given my more favored and more powerful servants the goal or killing you specifically. It would be a waste of time training you with Crabbe and Goyle. It would also be believable if they merely through a few easily blocked Dark Spells or easily dodged Cruciatus' at you before you got drawn into a more intimate duel with Bellatrix, Lucius, Severus, or perhaps eventually myself."

Harry hummed in response. He honestly did agree and it sounded like a very reasonable plan. He had the feeling that this was only a very small part of a very big plan that he really should be clued into, but he wasn't going to push it right now.

"Also, after a month of time here it would be appropriate that you are back in the hands of the light, which is already pushing boundaries of how long I would be able to keep you without killing you without having converted you, and we would not want to raise that suspicion." There was a kind of dark emptiness in Voldemorts words, as if he were leaving something very important out. Harry shook his head trying not to think about it right now. He knew that he would go mad if he tried to figure out exactly what Voldemorts plans were. For now it was best to go with the flow exactly as Voldemort wanted him to, at least until he was a little farther away from his grasp.

"Yes, of course." Harry said, before Snape appeared in the door way and escorted Harry back to his room.

* * *

The next day Harry lay on his bed reading the book that Voldemort had given him the next day. It was interesting and he didn't already know all of the information covered in it, but he didn't see why any of the information would be useful. There were very few times when he had needed to interact with magical creature in the past, and he didn't see that changing in the future. And if Voldemort planned on having him fight centaurs or some other creature, he could just be told and trained in fighting that one creature.

Since that point he had been cooped up again, and had had nothing else to do besides read. A house elf had delivered him dinner the night before, but that was the last time he had seem another living creature.

Harry put the book down and stared up at the ceiling, trying not to admit that he had fallen prey to boredom. _At least he's feeding me. _Harry thought, as he waited, hoping that someone would knock at his door and take him away to entertain him for the day. He was promised training with Bellatrix, and while the woman was absolutely mad and any sort of training that she had with her would probably being grueling and crucio filled, at least it would be something to do.

Harry thankfully did not have to wait very long though, for the door to his room flew open.

"Get up you lazy bastard."

"Stopped babying me, have you?" Harry said referring to her harsher language, trying to sound bored while fighting back a smirk as he rose from the bed.

"It's nearly baby Potter's birthday isn't it? Fourteen, is it?"

"In nearly a month. But don't worry; it seems that we'll get to have a birthday party/send the bane of your existence back into the hands of Dumbledore party. I'm sure we can play a rousing game of pin the cursed scar on the Harry Potter."

"What are you going on about?"

"Pin the tail on the donkey is a game played at muggle children's parties. I figured since you want to hurt me a fun variation could involve pinning scars on me. It was a joke." Harry said flatly. "I celebrated a birthday with my muggle relatives once as a child." He explained.

"Do you have a lot of scars, Potter?" Bellatrix asked darkly, with a wicked smile, clearly excited about the prospect of hearing about all the times Harry had been harmed.

"There was an incident when I was a child that left a nasty one on my forehead for quite a while, but it eventually disappeared. My parents were worried that it was cursed and wouldn't go away. It would bleed randomly or sometimes it even seemed to glow. But then it just closed up and disappeared. That is by far my most interesting scar, and I don't even have it anymore. I have a couple from training and such, but they aren't interesting. But I suppose you're going to give me some fun scar stories aren't you?"

"The light thinks we are torturing you right now, I assume. We can't exactly send you back to your precious parents and Dumbledore without looking a little, shall we say, beat up? How did you get such a scar, Potter. Someone realize what a little prick you are before you could even talk and try to kill you?" Bellatrix cackled.

"No one knows. I mean, I suppose I do. But I just kind of showed up with it one evening when I was probably about three." Harry shrugged.

"Well if I'm any good, you shouldn't be able to remember how you get the scars you'll get today either."

"Brilliant," Harry muttered sarcastically. "So where is this torture training going to occur?"

"This way." She said as she turned on her heel and left the room. Harry sighed and followed after her. They walked through the manor and out of back door out onto the expansive lawn of the estate.

"So, now what?" Harry asked before taking in a deep breath of fresh air. He hadn't been outside in days and the little bit of symbolic freedom that the outdoors offered was greatly appreciated.

"Now you try not to die." Bellatrix cackled as she threw a hex at Harry.

"Right." Harry muttered as he dodged the hex and threw a stream of light magic out a Bellatrix, wrapping it around her stopping her mid deranged prance. He forced her to the ground, bringing her to sit on her behind with her legs kicking out in front of her as she twisted her shoulders, trying to break free of the magical bindings. "Now who looks like a child?" Harry muttered as he paced in circles around the woman who was growing increasingly desperate in her struggles.

"If you want to duel, I'm going to win. It really is that simple." Harry said in an eerie whisper. "I have more power than you could dream of. You are here to teach me how to duel you and vice versa, or at least that was what I was told." Harry said before dropping the cords of magic that tied Bellatrix. She immediately crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly and peered up at Harry with a look of curiosity and determination.

"You can't beat me." Harry reiterated.

"What if you didn't t have that funny magic of yours?" She said, clearly determined to ignore what it seemed to Harry they were supposed to be doing.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Why would you is the real question, Potter. It's not as if your little tricks are normal. What if one day they just disappeared? Then what would you do?"

"I'd use one of the many defense spells that I've learned over the years."

"Okay then Potter, use those. Go." Bellatrix's face twisted into a full on grin as she launched another hex at Harry. Harry threw up a shield with a wand and threw a curse at Bellatrix wandlessly with his other hand.

"No fancy magic Potter." She screeched at him before throwing a curse.

"How does that make any sense? Me losing my wand is the most practical way I could be stripped of my magic."

"Wand only Potter." She barked.

"Would you like me to speak all of my spells to, to make it really easy on you?" Harry snapped, before throwing another curse at her. "Fine, you know what, I bet I can beat you using nothing but a disarming charm. Is that alright with you?" Harry asked.

Bellatrix grinned and threw a curse at Harry, which he dodged. Another curse flying at him sent him rolling across the ground as he narrowly missed it. He jumped to his feet and dove behind a bush, seeking cover, before the bush was blown to pieces, once again leaving Harry exposed.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry cried, pointing his wand at Bellatrix, who quickly threw up a shield.

Harry dove behind another shrub while Bellatrix held the shield and stuck his wand threw the branches casting another disarming charm in between the time when she dropped the shield and she caused Harry's leafy shield to explode.

The charm worked and Bellatrix's wand flew out of her hand, landing on the ground a few feet from Harry. Harry dove for it, grabbing onto it before the air cleared from the storm of charred leaved that had filled the air.

Harry stood up, holding both his and Bellatrix's wand in his hand at his side as he did his best to glower at Bellatrix while his chest rose and fell rapidly as he panted. He tossed Bellatrix's wand back to her.

"Are you satisfied?" He growled.

Harry heard clapping and he looked back over to the manor to find Voldemort himself slowly applauding with a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips.

"Good work Harry. Bella, could you perhaps try harder to take your anger out on the teenager attacking you instead of the landscaping? Or you could do what I told you to do. Although clearly Harry can put up a convincing fight without harming you, which is exactly what I wanted him to be able to do." He chided at Bella and gave Harry rare praise as he glided out from the manor and onto the yard. "Really though, only a disarming charm, Bella, I would have thought that you could have put up a slightly better fight? Perhaps I should alter my training plans for you Harry. Tomorrow I'll have a surprise for you, since it seems that Bella is not going to be able to teach you anything besides how to murder innocent shrubs."

Harry couldn't help but stifle a laugh as the great Lord Voldemort said the words 'murder,' 'innocent,' and 'shrubs' in sequence.

"Is something funny Harry?" Voldemort asked, turning his attention back to Harry.

"No sir. Nothing is funny at all." Harry said with a grin as he regained his composure.

"Good. Now Potter, would you like to join me for a late lunch?"

"I'd be honored to consume my daily meal with you, Tom." Harry said as seriously as he could.

"Yes, well, perhaps if you showed a bit more respect, then I could reward you with breakfast." Voldemort growled in warning at Harry's casualness.

"Some tea and toast or the opportunity to tease you the Dark Lord, it is a tough decision. But I think I'll stick with you, Tom." Harry smirked.

"Your loyalty is heartwarming." Voldemort drawled.

"Can your heart really be warmed, Tom? Are you the Grinch? Does that make me Cindy Lou Who?" Harry asked, widening his eyes and pouting his lip as he looked up at Voldemort.

"What on earth are you talking about now?"

"It's a muggle children's book about a gangly green monster that learns about the true meaning of Christmas from a small child."

"I despise Muggle Christmas." Tom snapped as he began to walk back towards the manor.

"Oh! So you are the Grinch!" Harry bounced after the Dark Lord. "Oh please Santa! Don't ruin Christmas for all of us poor little Who's!"

"Potter, you have exactly five seconds to stop being obnoxious or I will curse you until you can't even remember your own name." Voldemort growled.

Harry's feet returned to the ground and he trudged after the Dark Lord, muttering under his breath unintelligible things, all while Bellatrix stood in the lawn with her mouth agape as she watched her Lord and the prat who seemed to be his protégée walk besides him.

* * *

Harry sat in the armchair in his room the next day, flipping through the magical creature's book that he had finished the night before when there was a knock at his door.

"Enter." Harry commanded and the door swung open to reveal Lucius Malfoy.

"You're my surprise?" Harry asked with innocent confusion.

"Cut it out Potter."

"Well you're no fun." Harry pouted as he rose from his chair and made his way over to the door.

"So what is my surprise?"

"You'll see. I wouldn't get too excited." Lucius answered as he left the room, expecting Harry to follow him, which he did.

"Does Draco know the truth?" Harry asked suddenly.

"So you do think about him. I didn't know you were capable of thinking of other people."

"Hey, that is not fair. He's my friend." Harry defended. _Well, sort of_, Harry added in his head.

"Clearly it is your compassion that has caused my son to become so annoyingly infatuated with you." Lucius drawled sarcastically.

"Infatuated?" Harry choked on the wording.

"He hasn't stopped pestering me about you since you were taken, begging me not to hurt you."

"Malfoy's don't beg." Harry murmured.

Lucius stopped and looked at Harry, raising his eye brows as if to say, "My point exactly."

"But they are attracted to power and incredibly loyal." Harry finished.

"If this were only a question of mere loyalty, Potter," Lucius spat in exasperation. "Never mind. Apparently it is only a question of loyalty to you, and that's enough." He finished with a sigh.

"So what does he know?" Harry asked again, not dwelling on Lucius' comments.

"He knows we have you, that has been confirmed. He is not aware that you have been marked and our serving our Lord. He believes what the light believes." Lucius answered.

"The Dark Lord doesn't trust him?"

"Not yet. He is too young."

"He's older than I am."

"He does not know enough."

"I've taught him a great deal."

"He is weak." Lucius snapped, stopping and pressing his face close to Harry's.

"Oh." Harry breathed.

"He will become stronger." Lucius said with a frightening level of resolve and Harry could tell that the elder Malfoy was determined to have his son become a proper Death Eater, whatever the cost. "He just needs to remember what is important."

"I can train him more next year, if you'd like sir." Harry offered.

"More time alone with you is the last thing he needs." Lucius muttered before pushing open a set of doors. "Here we are."

Harry looked into the room to see a sheepish looking Bellatrix, probably having been reprimanded a little more harshly than being mocked for yesterdays performance, a scowling Snape, and Voldemort with a slight gleam in his eyes that Harry knew could not be good for is safety standing is a large empty room.

"Since you can handle one with ease, I thought we would try something that I think should challenge you a little more today, Harry." Voldemorts lips remained pressed into a thin line, but his eyes glimmered with a terrifying excitement. "I thought we would try a little three against one." He finished and Harry watched as he stepped away and Lucius joined the line up with Snape and Bella, before all three of them drew their wands.

_Oh, well this should be fun._ Harry thought before springing into action.

* * *

**A/N: Hello, sorry. I know it's been nearly two months. But life. I know this is a weird place to stop, but I want to post something and I don't want to write out the rest of the scene right now. **

**Erm, Harry will need a date to the Yule Ball eventually, and I'm willing to take suggestions. They should be female. I wasn't planning on introducing Luna until next year, Hermione is going with Krum, and Cho is going with Cedric. But any other female at Hogwarts is pretty much eligible, even if I haven't mentioned them at all up to this point. So if anyone has a suggestion, I'd love to hear it.**

**Also, this gets me past the 100,000 word mark, I think. And I know a fair part of that is A/N's but still, I think that is impressive, and is probably the most I have ever written towards a single story. So yay.**


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

**Warning: Some violence in the form of torture towards the end of this chapter. It's not exceptionally graphic and hardly gory at all, but it's there in a way in which it hasn't exactly been previously. Do with that what you will.**

* * *

The attacks went on for nearly two weeks, and Harry began to wonder if Voldemort had changed his mind and was going to kill him after all. Harry had been allowed to roam the wing of the manor his room was in, which gave him access to a library and the kitchen where he could visit some house elves that made Sirius' house elf Kreacher seem cheerful and polite.

But the freedom quickly became more of a curse than a blessing, as he would be sitting in the library reading and suddenly Snape, Lucius, and Bella would appear out of nowhere and draw him into an overly dramatic battle.

Harry sat in the dining room with Voldemort one evening in mid July eating dinner when he fell to the ground, having been hit by a crucio.

Harry raised a hand and blindly threw a stupefy in the direction that the pain had first come from. It had been decided that Harry could only use light approved spells about a week ago, preferably vocally and with a wand, although the current situation did not warrant that, as it would raise even less suspicion, although anyone who knew Harry knew his willingness to use either light or dark magic so far in no way related to his allegiance. Voldemort didn't care for Harry's reasoning though, and so Harry had given up on creativity and his arsenal of spells became limited to Stupefy, Expelliarmus, and the occasional Reducto, if applicable. It was about as innocent as defense magic could get, much to Harry's displeasure. He had spent years learning all sorts of curses, practicing bending his magic to his will, only to have himself be ordered to stop using any sort of magic that Ron Weasley could not do.

After managing to fire off a couple more stunners, one of them finally seemed to hit the target and the pain stopped. All Harry wanted to do was lie on the floor in exhaustion, but he knew that only one of his attackers was down, and if he did not move quickly the pain would return.

Harry flung his body up onto the table and grabbed the knife that he had happily been using to carve his steak moments before and turned around, flinging it at toward the first thing that moved.

Lucius Malfoy dodged the knife, but fell right into the stupefy that Harry flung at him.

Harry turned to find his last opponent and found Snape throwing what must have been some sort of nasty curse at him. Harry raised a shield before he disarmed Snape, catching the potion masters wand.

"This is getting ridiculous." Harry muttered as he sat back down at the table, summoning the knife he had thrown across the room, and tossed Snape his wand back.

"I liked the knife throwing." Voldemort said as he plucked his napkin from his lap and tossed it onto his empty plate.

"Well, when trying to convince one that you aren't a servant to a muggle hating Dark Lord it is very convincing to use muggle style fighting." Harry muttered as he took a bite of his meal.

"Well, consider yourself in luck, Harry, because I have received news that the Order believes that they have discovered your location and are planning on rescuing you by the end of the week.

"They've found the location of the manor?" Harry gasped.

"Of course not. They have determined that you are being hidden in an extraneous Black estate that was thought to have been abandoned."

"But I'm not staying at a Black manor."

"No, but you will be by the end of the week."

"I see." Harry muttered, taking another bite of his meal and chewing slowly.

"You're dismissed." Voldemort said and Harry looked at the Dark Lord and raised his eyebrows. "Go. Now. Before I change my mind about letting you leave." Voldemort said coldly.

Harry sighed and shook his head slightly as he looked down at the food remaining on his plate longingly before grabbing a piece of bread off the table and stalking out of the room, picking at the bread as he went.

The next day Harry was left alone, with nothing other than a couple visits from house elves who ever so graciously delivered him some food. At this point though, Harry was so paranoid that he could not enjoy the day off. By that evening he sat in the library engulfed in a cloud of dark magic that occasionally stormed with a bolt of light magic lightening, just to make sure that anyone stayed away from him.

"_Well someone is feeling a little defensive now, aren't they?" _An unfamiliar voice hissed.

Harry looked up to see one of the largest snakes that he had ever seen slithering towards him.

"_Oh, Nagini. I haven't seen you much in my time here._" Harry said as he twirled the dark magic into a funnel cloud as sent it twisting over the snake before coming back to storm around its master.

"_I have been busy. Do that again. It feels nice. Warm._" The snake hissed haughtily.

"_Oh good, I'm glad snakes like it too. And no. If you want it you can come and sit next to me in my chair. I'll try not to strike you with any light magic_." Harry muttered in Parseltongue before returning to the book that he had been reading.

Nagini grumbled as well as a snake can before wrapping herself over the back of the armchair that Harry had curled himself into.

"_Why are you here anyway?"_ Harry asked, not looking up from his book.

"_My Master has sent me with a message_."

"_Which would be?"_

"_You are to meet this tomorrow in his study at ten o'clock tomorrow morning._"

"_Tell him I will see him there._"

"_May I say for a while?_" The snake hissed as it settled down around Harry's shoulders.

"_Do as you please, as long as you do not disrupt my reading or kill me."_ Harry muttered, eyes still glued into the book.

"_Master would not like if I ate you. He told me not to, specifically. Master rarely does that_."

"_Well, that's encouraging I suppose."_ Harry muttered.

"_I do not mind you anyway though. You speak to me and you make funny warm clouds for me to lie in." _Nagini hissed in Harry's ear, her tongue flicking against Harry's earlobe.

"The _cloud was not meant to please you, if was meant to keep others away_."

"_Whatever."_ The snake sighed contentedly.

Harry went back to reading for a while longer as he felt the snake rippling its scales across the back of his neck peacefully. The silence was broken after only a few more minutes.

"_What are you doing with my snake?" _Harry looked up from his book to see Voldemort standing in the door of the library.

"_Master, he is very useful indeed_." Nagini hissed as she wrapped herself tighter around Harry's shoulders, much to Harry's discomfort.

"_Nagini, I have a task for you, come_." The snake did not make any effort to move. "_Now_." He commanded. "Who do I have to kill to get some respect around here?" He muttered and Harry grinned at the comment which was about as close to humanity as the Dark Lord ever got.

The snake slithered off of Harry and out of the library, Voldemort gliding behind it, completely ignoring Harry.

Harry sighed at the antics and put his book down; deciding now was a fine time to retire for the night.

* * *

"Tom." Harry called as he knocked on Voldemort's study door, and received no response. "My dearest Lord Voldemort." Harry sighed, trying a different tactic, and the door swung open.

Harry made his way into the study to find most of the furniture that filled it the last time he had been there gone, leaving a surprisingly respectable bit of floor space for a study.

"Today, Harry, we are going to duel."

"Is that really a good idea, Tom?" Harry asked slowly.

"You think you can beat me, Harry?" Voldemort asked incredulously.

"I don't think either of us should risk it." Harry muttered.

"Risk what, Harry, what happens if you defeat me?"

"Er, the whole world order is changed and/or you start actually trying to kill me." Harry muttered again. "Or something." He added, not actually wanting to think too much about what could happen if this ended badly.

"Harry, even if you were to prove yourself more powerful than me, it would hardly change anything. You are aware that I am still weaker than I was years ago, but I will continue to grow stronger." Voldemort said with resolve. Harry wasn't quite sure how much stronger Voldemort could get in recovering from an accident that happened a decade ago, but Harry was sure that there were things that Voldemort hadn't told him about that mysterious night all of those years ago.

"Even if you defeated me today, it would not mean that you would defeat me tomorrow. And what would you do if you won, Harry? Would you fight me and my death eaters out of here? Would you go and try to build up your own army of followers? Would you go back sobbing to Dumbledore? What are your options, really, Potter? And anyway Harry, we are still practicing for a duel in a more public arena, which means I get to throw unforgivables while you get you will try your best to disarm me."

"Great." Harry spat.

"Crucio." Voldemort called in response, and Harry flung himself out of the way.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry cried, but Voldemort stepped out of the curses way with ease. He had fallen into the habit of announcing spells and using his wand, and he wasn't particularly pleased with it. It was far below him, and it made him look weaker. His parents and Dumbledore would love it, him using normal magic. _Damn it,_ Harry thought angrily at himself.

"Avada Kedavra!" Harry barely registered the words before his stomach dropped and Harry dropped with it, as he dodged the fatal curse.

"Tom! What the hell are you doing?" Harry screamed as he threw another disarming charm.

"Harry, wouldn't it curious if the merciless Dark Lord tried to kill everyone in battle except for poor little Harry Potter? Avada Kedavra!" Harry sprinted across the room, which was suddenly feeling very small trying to dodge the unforgivables.

"But you could at least purposely try to miss!" Harry panted as he threw yet another disarming charm at Voldemort.

"Harry, someone could notice. That damn Moody is obnoxiously clever like that. Crucio."

The curse hit Harry and he fell to the ground. Harry could see Voldemort standing over him, and Harry frantically flailed his legs, succeeding in side swiping Voldemort so that he stumbled backwards, dropping the curse off of Harry.

Harry jumped up from the ground, ignoring the lingering pain and threw a chain of light magic at Voldemort, wrapping it around Voldemort before the Dark Lord could even raise his wand.

"I'm tired of this moronic light magic act, Tom. If I wanted you, I could've had you dead weeks ago. It's a two way street Tom, don't think that it is not. You have the followers and the ambition, but that can change if you push me, you have to know that, Tom. You can't mark me like cattle and assume to own me forever." Harry pulled the magic tighter. "I'm done with this. I don't want to fight you Tom. If you want me fighting you, everything is going to go to hell faster than you can say that damn favorite curse of yours, do you understand me?" Harry walked towards the door. "I'm done with this shit." He muttered rather ineloquently in frustration as he opened the door. He turned back to face Voldemort and pulled his magic back, spinning Voldemort out like a top as he slammed the door behind him.

* * *

Harry sat in his room alone for several days. He had found the door locked, preventing him from going down to the kitchen and finding food. Harry could have blasted the door away, but Harry didn't want to eat anything of Voldemort's anyway. On the third day, a house elf showed up with a cup of tea and some toast for him, and Harry slowly picked at the toast because while he was starving, he did not want to accept anything from Voldemort anymore.

On the fourth day, Harry heard a click at the door and the door opened revealing one Lucius Malfoy.

"The Dark Lord demands your presence." He stated.

"What if I don't want to go?" Harry asked, sounding much too like the stubborn teenager he technically was from his own preferences.

"It is not an option." Lucius said. "And take off the robe."

Harry sighed, not bothering to even question as he dropped the black death eater robe, leaving him in trousers and a t-shirt that he had been surprised to find begin to start appearing in the wardrobe about a week ago and followed the blond from the room.

"What happened to Snape?" Harry asked suddenly, remembering that the dark haired man was the one to usually retrieve him from his room, and that he had not in fact seen the potions master in several days.

"He has been busy elsewhere." The Malfoy muttered.

Harry didn't say anything in response and continued to follow the man to the dining room.

The double doors opened and Harry found Voldemort sitting at the end of the long table, eating, a spot for Harry set at his side.

"Come eat Harry, we are moving you today." Voldemort said far to casually considering the incident that had occurred the last time they had spoken.

Harry cautiously made his way to the table and began to pick at the food before him. He was starving and the Dark Lord clearly had some sort of ulterior motive, as his voice dripped with that sweetness that Harry knew could not sincerely belong to the man.

They ate in silence and until Voldemort rose from the table.

"Are you ready to return home, Harry?"

Harry could do nothing but nod and Voldemort gripped his shoulder and Harry felt himself be pulled away from his meal and from the God awful manor, but unfortunately not its owner.

Harry felt his feet become planted onto the ground again and he doubled over as he choked back the contents of his stomach, fighting to keep them in their place. Harry could apparate by himself without problems, but side along apparition was still miserable to him.

"Here we are." Voldemort murmured and Harry looked up to see himself standing in a dungeon.

"Are we at the manor? There are no anti-apparition wards on it?" Harry asked, expecting to find himself standing out in front of the manor, not already deep within the bowels of it.

"Not for anyone who bares my mark." Voldemort responded, a far away, distracted look in his eye that Harry found exceptionally unsettling.

"What is this exactly?" Harry said, looking at the complex looking chains that hung from the dungeon walls.

"Well the light certainly shouldn't know that you've been staying in a comfortable suite at my manor this past month, can they?" Voldemort said softly.

"Well, I suppose not." Harry said slowly, not at all pleased with where this was going.

"So, Bella and Lucius here will happily help you into your temporary outfit." Voldemort said in an exceptionally dark tone that caused Harry's stomach to drop and Harry looked around the realize that the two Death Eaters had come with them.

Harry stumbled forwards as Lucius dragged him over to the wall and Bella locked chains around his ankles.

"Ball your hands into fists." Lucius commanded.

"W-What?" Harry asked in alarm and confusion.

"Your magic, Harry, come out of your palms the strongest, I have observed. I have several wards up that should make the use of magic nearly impossible without disassembling them from the outside, but I'm known for my overkill, am I not? Even if knowing that range of your powers, that would hardly make a difference if you were given enough time or the proper motivation, Dumbledore will only know what you tell him. And if you say that you couldn't do magic, then he has no reason to doubt you. So do as Lucius says."

Harry reluctantly balled his hands into fists and spherical metal handcuffs were placed were placed over his fists, not allowing him to unclench them. Harry tried out of curiosity to release some of his magic, but the magic couldn't seem to penetrate the cuffs, which were probably cursed in some way to make them impenetrable to magic, considering Voldemort was going for overkill. He watched as his arms were stretch out to his sides so that his fists were level with his head and so he was spread out against the wall. In growing panic over his defenseless position, Harry pushed his magic out with all the force he could muster, but the only a puff of dark magic could be seen at the wrists of the cuffs.

"Now, Harry, clearly I wouldn't have just left you alone this whole time, would I? You may leave now, Lucius, Bella." Harry heard Bellatrix grumble on the way out about missing all of the fun and Harry's stomach twisted and he wanted to throw up as it began to dawn on him exactly what Voldemorts intentions were.

"I'll try to leave your chest alone, Potter. We don't want that damned Hogwarts healer to see that mark of yours, do we?"

"Tom, come on, I've already got a couple marks from the duels the past few weeks."

"_You mistake me for someone who has mercy, Harry."_ Voldemort hissed and pointed his wand at Harry and Harry watched, grinding his teeth together as slash wounds appeared first on his shoulder, then across his cheek. He finally screamed as a particularly long and deep one was marred into his shin.

And then there was just pain as a crucio fell upon him. Harry screamed until he couldn't anymore and then it finally stopped, and Harry realized that he had awkwardly sunk half way down the wall, as his feet which had been thankfully been kept on the floor when he was bound, had lost interest in supporting his weight and he had slumped forwards in a way that would have brought his to his knees if it were not for the bindings on his arms. His neck hung forwards into his chest, and we he tried to raise it to face Voldemort, he found that he could not muster the strength to do so.

_"Now for something a little more creative, shall we."_ Harry heard the man hiss, his voice seeming to start as if the man were down a well and ending as if he were screaming in Harry's ear. Harry watched as the ground seemed to also move closer and farther from him and was overcome by nausea and he vomited onto the ground before him. He closed his eyes in a feeble attempt to combat his disorientation.

"Petrificus Totalus." Voldemort whispered and Harry body straightened up against the wall as his knees locked and he found himself able to release another screech as his arms which were unable to snap to his sides because of his bindings were ripped out of their sockets.

Harry could now look at Voldemort once again and he saw the man smirking darkly. Harry tried to open his mouth, but remembered he was paralyzed. He and Voldemort just stared at each other, Harry's eyes wide from the pain he was in before the paralysis and Voldemort smirking darkly back at him. Harry blinked as the curse began to wear off, apparently not being a very strong one. Harry felt the numbness fade from his lips and he spoke.

"Have you had your revenge?" Harry rasped out of his raw throat.

"Yes, for now, Potter. And I'd just like to remind you where your loyalty lies." Voldemort said softly and Harry's side began to feel as if it were on fire. "If I find that you have changed your mind, you will face so much pain that even someone as proud as yourself will beg for death. And then maybe just before have nearly bleed to death as a result of your injuries, I will grant it. Do you understand me, Harry?"

Harry ground his teeth as the very outlines of a plan he had made a month ago repeated like a mantra in his head. _You will betray him once you have the upper hand._

"Yes," Harry coughed weakly. "My Lord." He added softly before the curse wore off further allowing his neck to fall forwards.

"Your rescue party should be here by tomorrow morning. Oh, and your wand is being kept in a study upstairs. I know you don't need it, but you're welcome to grab it on the way out if you want. I'll be in touch when it becomes necessary. Until then, it's probably best to assume that whatever happens to you is happening on purpose." And with that, footsteps echoed far louder than they should have in his ear, and Voldemort left Harry alone in the dungeons.

The rest of the curse wore off and Harry could only muster a groan as he fell forwards and his injured shoulders bore the majority of his weight.

And then, much to his relief, Harry was overcome by darkness.

* * *

"Oh, Merlin, Harry." Harry heard a voice gasp and he groaned as pain came flooding back to him. He was clearly still hanging from the wall, as his shoulders felt like the Cruciatus curse had been focused on them for hours. Harry then noticed the smell of his sick on the ground with some faint undertones of the metallic smell of blood. Then his head began to throb and the room seemed to begin to spin and Harry began a series of dry heaves, the few contents that were in his stomach already coating the stone floors of the dungeon.

"How do we get him down?" Harry heard a voice ask that he knew he should have recognized, but couldn't place as his head seemed to spin off of his misplaced shoulders and he heaved again.

"It would take too long to get the wards down that are screwing with our magic."

"Try using dark magic." Harry rasped. "Voldemort tortured me—" Harry paused as he broke into a fit of coughs. "After he mentioned the wards. And my magic, only the dark magic worked." Harry pieced together remembering the puff of dark smoke that came from the cuffs without the yellow glow that usually accompanied it, before his brain protested the logical thought by beginning a series of stabbing pains and he broke out into another fit of coughs that was only stopped by another dry heave.

"Can't we do it the muggle way?" A voice asked and Harry realized that there were two different voices, a man's and a woman's.

"Damn it, Molly! The boy's dying and you want to file away his chains instead of using a few slashing curses?"

_ Mrs. Weasley? She wasn't usually on a front line situation like this._ Harry thought in curiosity.

Harry heard some curses mumbled before he fell forwards, thankfully landing in a warm pair of arms instead on onto the cold, hard, sick covered floor.

"Can you walk boy?" The man's voice asked with a distinct gruffness that Harry knew that he would have recognized instantly if his senses were working with his brain properly.

Harry tried to place his feet under himself, but felt himself falling as a searing pain overtook his shin. An arm caught him around the shoulder and Harry yelped, and the noise startled whoever had grabbed onto his shoulder as he found himself face planting into his own rotting vomit.

_Of course_, Harry thought to himself as he felt himself being lifted from the ground and found his eyes finally focusing on the face of Mad-Eye Moody before he closed them again as Molly Weasley's hand rubbed at his face with a clothe, trying to remove the stomach contents from it.

His face was cleaned and Harry opened his eyes as Moody began moving, and he quickly shut them as he heaved again as nausea overtook him.

"Cover me, Molly." Moody barked.

Harry felt movement again and thought the waves of nausea.

"My wand. It's in a study upstairs." Harry muttered as his body was jostled up and down as Moody made his way up the staircase out of the dungeon.

"Remus and Sirius should still be in here somewhere, I'll send them a patronus once we get out of the dungeon and my magic works again, dear. Right now we need to get you out of the wards of the manor so that you can be apparated out." Molly murmured.

"Remus and Sirius are here? Where are my parents?" Harry whispered.

"Dumbledore thought it would be best if they stay behind. He was worried about their behavior becoming rash depending on the condition that you were found in."

"Why are you," Harry began, but stopped when he began coughing.

"Why am I here? Lily insisted that someone go to balance out the strategy trained mind of an Auror, someone to tell you that you'll be alright. Which you will, by the way dear, alright that is. We've got you now. It's the only reason she agreed not to come herself."

"You're just here for me?" Harry asked.

"Remus and Sirius were in charge of calling back up in if it was needed, but we didn't expect Voldemort to be here with you, just a few Death Eaters, we assume he has another manor somewhere where he spends the majority of his time and meets with most of his followers. But even finding this property is a huge step. You've done wonderfully so far Harry. I'm so sorry that this happened to you to get us the first contact with Voldemort anyone on the light has had in years face to face, but the war is beginning again Harry, and now we can finally end it." Molly babbled.

Harry didn't say anything, and a breeze surrounding him gave him reason not to, as he gasped at the fresh air.

"Can you apparate him away, Molly? I'll go back in and check on the boys and find Harry's wand." Moody barked and Harry felt himself be transferred into a new set of arms and his current lack of dignity occurred to him, being carried around as he was, but he couldn't muster up the strength to rectify the situation.

"Merlin, Harry, you're so light! Have you eaten at all since you were taken? The second we get back to the burrow, I'll make you something to eat. You like treacle tart, don't you? And how about some roast?" Harry managed to nod absent mindedly, not really caring about food.

"Okay, Harry, brace yourself, dear." Mrs. Weasley murmured before Harry felt himself being sucked away. He wasn't sure what was better, the solitary agony of the dungeon behind him, or the constant fussing that would surely await him at the burrow that lay ahead.

* * *

**A/N: KIND OF IMPORTANT: Harry still needs a date to the Yule Ball, and as I have not gotten any suggestions, he is currently going to be going with Ginny Weasley, because she is really the only other eligible character that I have introduced so far. If you find even such a minor instance of this canon pairing horrifying, please offer a suggestion, so I can set it up, so to speak. Either way, it's not going to be a remotely romantic thing or the beginning of any sort of relationship either way, but people still sometimes seem to care about that sort of thing. Requirements for suggestions were listed at the end of the last chapter if you just ignore my A/N's (which I understand…)**

**Up Next: Harry's back at school and away from Voldemort. Which is probably a good thing.**


End file.
